The Rwanda National Congress (RNC; ; ) is

Rwanda Rwanda, officially the Republic of Rwanda, is a landlocked country in the Great Rift Valley of East Africa, where the African Great Lakes region and Southeast Africa converge. Located a few degrees south of the Equator, Rwanda is bordered by ...

n opposition group in exile, established in the United States on 12 December 2010. Prominent founders included Dr.

Theogene Rudasingwa Dr. Theogene Rudasingwa (born 1960) is a leading figure in the Rwanda National Congress and a former Chief of Staff to Rwandan President Paul Kagame (2000-2004), former General Secretary of the Rwandan ruling party, the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF ...

, Gen.

Kayumba Nyamwasa Faustin Kayumba Nyamwasa (born 1958) is a Rwandan former Lieutenant general who formerly was the Chief of Staff of the Rwandan Army from 1998 to 2002. He was also head of Rwandan intelligence from 1998 to 2002 and served as Rwanda's ambassador to ...

Gerald Gahima Gerald Gahima is a judge with the War Crimes Chamber of the Court of Bosnia-Herzegovina and a leading figure in the Rwanda National Congress, a political group established in 2010 that represents the exiled opposition to the government of Rwandan P ...

, and

Patrick Karegeya Patrick Karegeya (1960 – December 31, 2013) was a head of intelligence in Rwanda. He was a member of the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) group that took power in Rwanda following the genocide against Tutsi. After becoming a critic of RPF leader ...

. Karegeya was murdered on 31 December 2013. Rudasingwa and Gahima have since left the organization.

Rudasingwa-Nyamwasa break

In July 2016, Rudasingwa formed a breakaway faction called the "New RNC". Rudasingwa lamented "the disruptive influence of Lt. Gen. Kayumba Nyamwasa" and the decision "to go ahead with elections in August, 2016, ..without first discussing and resolving the major problems facing the organization". In September, New-RNC declared that it had "decided to rise to the historic responsibility of naming the crimes committed against the Rwandan Hutu in Rwanda and the

Democratic Republic of Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), also known as the DR Congo, Congo-Kinshasa, or simply the Congo (the last ambiguously also referring to the neighbouring Republic of the Congo), is a country in Central Africa. By land area, it is t ...

by their rightful name, genocide." It released a list of what it called "masterminds of the genocide against the Rwanda Hutu", which included Nyamwasa. The "old" RNC announced the names of its "newly elected executives" the same month, which did not include Rudasingwa nor Gahima.

Role in Rwanda-Uganda relations

In March 2019, a diplomatic conflict emerged between Rwanda and its neighbor

Uganda Uganda, officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the ...

. The Rwandan minister of foreign affairs

Richard Sezibera Richard Sezibera (born June 5, 1964, in Kigali, Rwanda) is a Rwandan medical doctor, diplomat and politician, who served as the Minister of Foreign Affairs from 18 October 2018 until November 4, 2019. He replaced Louise Mushikiwabo. He was repla ...

accused Uganda of supporting the RNC and allowing them a base in Uganda. Uganda denied the accusations. Ugandan president

Yoweri Museveni Yoweri Kaguta Museveni Tibuhaburwa (born 15 September 1944) is a Ugandan politician and Officer (armed forces), military officer who is the ninth and current president of Uganda since 1986. As of 2025, he is the third-List of current state lead ...

admitted to meeting with a member of the RNC but said he told them Uganda cannot support their cause.

Other leaders

* Seif Bamporiki (d. 2021), lived in exile in South Africa * Callixte Sankara until 2017

References

External links

Official website.
{{Rwandan political parties Political parties in Rwanda