Archives

Our role

Tuzafrika is a young institute: we do not yet hold an archive of our own. In the meantime, this section gathers the primary texts and reports — agreements, resolutions, official inquiries — that our work on the Great Lakes draws on, each linking directly to its source. It will grow, as our research advances, with documents and testimonies gathered directly by the Institute.

Founding texts

Borders and sovereignty

1. 1885

   General Act of the Berlin Conference (26 February 1885), which set the rules for the colonial partition of Africa and founded the Congo Free State — the matrix of the region's current borders.

   Read the full text ↗

Peace agreements

Ending the wars

1. 1999

   Lusaka Ceasefire Agreement, an attempt to end the Second Congo War and pave the way for the deployment of MONUC.

   Read the full text ↗

2. 2000

   Arusha Peace and Reconciliation Agreement for Burundi, which set the framework for power-sharing and the end of the Burundian civil war.

   Read the full text (UN Peacemaker) ↗

3. 2013

   Peace, Security and Cooperation Framework for the DRC and the Region, signed in Addis Ababa under the aegis of the African Union and the United Nations.

   Read the overview (African Union) ↗

Inquiries and resolutions

Establishing the facts

1. 1999

   Human Rights Watch, Leave None to Tell the Story (Alison Des Forges) — the reference investigation into the genocide of the Tutsi in Rwanda.

   Read the report ↗

2. 2010

   Mapping Report of the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, documenting the most serious violations committed in the DRC between 1993 and 2003.

   Read the report (OHCHR) ↗

3. 2013

   United Nations Security Council Resolution 2098, which established the Force Intervention Brigade within the UN mission in the DRC.

   Read the resolution ↗

4. Ongoing

   Successive reports of the UN Group of Experts on the DRC (Sanctions Committee 1533), published twice a year.

   Browse the reports ↗

Rwanda

From civil war to reconstruction

1. 1993

   Arusha Peace Agreement between the Rwandan government and the Rwandese Patriotic Front (4 August 1993) — the power-sharing agreement whose collapse directly preceded the 1994 genocide. Not to be confused with the Arusha Accords for Burundi (2000), cited above.

   Read the full text (UN Peacemaker) ↗

2. 1994

   United Nations Security Council Resolution 955, establishing the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) to prosecute those responsible for the genocide.

   Read the resolution ↗

3. 2003

   Constitution of the Republic of Rwanda, adopted by referendum in 2003 (since amended) — the institutional framework of the post-genocide period.

   Read the text (Constitute Project) ↗

Heads of state

Presidents who died in office or after

Part of the political history of the three countries reads in the fate of their heads of state: assassinations, deaths in detention or exile, but also natural deaths. This timeline helps situate the institutional ruptures discussed in our analyses.

DRC (Congo)

1. 17 Jan. 1961

   

   Patrice Lumumba, Prime Minister (not President — that office was then held by Kasa-Vubu), executed near Mwadingusha (Katanga).

2. 24 Mar. 1969

   

   Joseph Kasa-Vubu, the first president of independent Congo, died in Boma after a long illness, four years after being removed from power.

3. 7 Sep. 1997

   

   Mobutu Sese Seko, died in exile in Rabat (Morocco) of prostate cancer, four months after his fall.

4. 16–18 Jan. 2001

   

   Laurent-Désiré Kabila, shot in Kinshasa on 16 January, died on the 18th in Harare (Zimbabwe), where he had been evacuated.

Rwanda

1. 15 Dec. 1976

   

   Grégoire Kayibanda, the first president of independent Rwanda, died in detention after the 1973 coup — reportedly of starvation, according to sources.

2. 6 April 1994

   

   Juvénal Habyarimana, killed when his plane was shot down over Kigali — the event that triggered the genocide of the Tutsi. Responsibility for the attack remains disputed among sources.

Burundi

1. 16 Jul. 1983

   

   Michel Micombero, the first president of independent Burundi, died in exile in Somalia (another source gives 6 August).

2. 21 Oct. 1993

   

   Melchior Ndadaye, the first democratically elected president, assassinated in Bujumbura three months after taking office.

3. 6 April 1994

   

   Cyprien Ntaryamira, killed in the same plane as Rwandan President Habyarimana.

4. 4 May 2016

   

   Jean-Baptiste Bagaza, died of natural causes in Brussels.

5. 8 June 2020

   

   Pierre Nkurunziza, officially died of a heart attack — a version widely doubted, with several observers suspecting Covid-19.

6. 17 Dec. 2020

   

   Pierre Buyoya, died of Covid-19 near Paris.

Every document cited links to its official source. This list will grow as the Institute's work progresses.

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