SUMMARY
FPR (Front patriotique rwandais, Rwandan Patriotic Front) was a rebel group which opposed the Hutu-dominated government of Rwanda and attacked it in 1990, starting the first episode of the conflict over government power in Rwanda. This episode came to a halt when the FPR ousted the government of Rwanda in 1994, and seized government power. The armed wing of the FPR was the RPA (Rwandan Patriotic Army)).
FPR was established in Uganda by Tutsi refugees who had fled their country to escape the abuse and repression of the Hutu-dominated government of Rwanda. In Rwanda Tutsis had since independence been systematically discriminated against and also suffered targeted killings; causing massive refugee flows from 1959 and onward. FPR evolved from the Rwandan Alliance for National Unity (RANU), which was founded in 1979. RANU was created to politically oppose the Hutu nationalism of the government of Rwanda, and to oppose its divisive policies. In 1987 the group changed its name to the Rwandan Patriotic Front, becoming a political and now also military organisation dedicated to the return of Tutsi (and to some extent oppressed Hutu) refugees and the creation of a democratic Rwanda for both Hutus and Tutsis. The group contained some Hutus, but was dominated by members of the Tutsi diaspora.
Tutsi exiles had joined in large numbers the NRA (National Resistance Army) of Yoweri Museveni in Uganda, who seized government power in that country in 1986. Many Tutsis in Uganda were therefore hardened soldiers, and came to occupy influential seats in Uganda’s new national army. After FPR was formed in 1987 leadership of the group was taken up by the Tutsi veterans that had fought with the NRA against the regime of Milton Obote. This core group of Tutsis from Uganda made up the initial FPR movement, which later became bloated with recruits from both within Rwanda and from Tutsi diaspora groups around the world. FPR began its attack on Rwanda in 1990, attacking from Ugandan territory. In addition to combating the government of Rwanda, FPR made use of one-sided violence, targeting in particular civilians of Hutu ethnicity as they took territory throughout Rwanda.
The contacts within the government of Uganda, and indeed personal relationships with Museveni, allowed FPR to garner material support from Uganda in the early stages of the conflict. Initially FPR simply kept hold of the weapons their soldiers had been issued in the Ugandan army, but the group later covertly received arms and ammunition from the same source. FPR in general lacked support from outside states and governments, and relied instead on funds channeled to it from the Tutsi diaspora which could be used to procure weapons with the previously mentioned help of Uganda. FPRs contacts with and links to the internal Rwandan opposition parties were likewise not very evolved.
The most famous leader of FPR was Paul Kagame, a Tutsi exile who had served so high up in the NRA hierarchy as to become acting head of military security. When other high-profile FPR leaders were killed early on in the conflict with the government of Rwanda he seized overall control of the movement. When the government of Rwanda had been ousted Kagame went on to later become the president of Rwanda.
FPR seized to exist as a rebel group when it took control of the government in July of 1994, becoming instead the government side in the intra-state conflicts that ensued with Hutu rebel groups.
FPR has been involved in the intrastate and one-sided categories of UCDP organised violence.
