{{short description|Rwandan politician}} {{Infobox officeholder | honorific_prefix = | name = Aloisea Inyumba | birth_date = 28 December 1964 in Uganda, | death_date = 6 December 2012 | death_place = her home in Kigali | spouse = late Dr Richard Masozera | native_name = | native_name_lang = | honorific_suffix = | image = File:Aloisea Inyumba.png | alt = | caption = Aloisea Inyumba at the UNCTAD XIII High Level Event on Women in Development, April 2012 | order = | office = Minister for Gender and Family Promotion | alma_mater = Makerere University }}
'''Aloisea Inyumba''' (28 December 1964 – 6 December 2012) was a Rwandan politician, who was the country's Minister for Gender and Family Promotion and as executive secretary of the National Unity and Reconciliation Commission.<ref name="Melvern">{{cite web |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/aloisea-inyumba-politician-who-played-a-key-role-in-the-rebuilding-of-rwanda-8527166.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130311012945/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/aloisea-inyumba-politician-who-played-a-key-role-in-the-rebuilding-of-rwanda-8527166.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=March 11, 2013 |title=Aloisea Inyumba: Politician who played a key role in the rebuilding of Rwanda |work=The Independent |last=Melvern |first=Linda |date=8 March 2013 |access-date=15 October 2014 }}</ref>
While studying social work and social administration at Makerere University in Uganda, she joined the Rwandan Patriotic Front.<ref name="Melvern" />
The eulogy at her funeral was given by President Paul Kagame.<ref name="Melvern" />
== Early life == Aloisea Inyumba was born on 28 December 1964 in Uganda, to Rwandan born parents.<ref name="Melvern" /> She was born in the aftermath of the 1959 Rwandan Revolution, which saw the creation of a republic dominated by the majority Hutu, and persecution of the minority Tutsi.{{sfn|Prunier|1999|p=51}} While her parents were still living in Rwanda, and before she was born, her father was killed in a massacre of Tutsi; her mother escaped with her five siblings and the family fled to the safety of Uganda.<ref name="Melvern" />
Inyumba lived her childhood in Uganda, completing her schooling there, and then proceeded to Makerere University in Kampala, to study for a degree in social work and social administration.<ref name="Melvern" /> In 1985, she had her first meeting with Paul Kagame,<ref name="LastRespects">{{cite web |author=The New Times |date=10 December 2012 |title=Kagame pays last respects to late Inyumba |url=http://www.newtimes.co.rw/section/article/2012-12-10/60645/ |access-date=20 October 2016 |archive-date=21 October 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161021005242/http://www.newtimes.co.rw/section/article/2012-12-10/60645/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> another Rwandan refugee who was at the time serving in the rebel army of Yoweri Museveni.{{sfn|Kinzer|2008|pp=44–45}} One year later, Museveni took control of the country and promoted Kagame and fellow Rwandan Fred Rwigyema to officers in the country's national army.{{sfn|Kinzer|2008|pp=50–51}} Kagame and Rwigyema took these positions, but their ultimate goal was to return with force to their own country, in order to facilitate the return of the refugees.{{sfn|Kinzer|2008|pp=51–52}} Kagame and Rwigyema joined and took over the Rwandan Patriotic Front,{{sfn|Kinzer|2008|pp=48–50}} a Rwandan liberation organisation, and Inyumba joined as well.<ref name="Melvern" />
== Political career == After the RPF military victory in July 1994, Inyumba was appointed into the newly formed transitional government.<ref name="Melvern" /> This government was headed by President Pasteur Bizimungu, but the country was ''de facto'' led by Paul Kagame.{{sfn|Prunier|1999|p=369}} She was appointed to the post of Minister of Gender and Family Promotion,<ref name="Melvern" /> and began a concerted programme to involve women in the rebuilding of Rwanda.<ref name="Melvern" />
In 2011, she was re-appointed to her previous role of Minister of Gender and Family Promotion, a role she held until her death in 2012.<ref name="Melvern" />
== Personal life and death == Inyumba was married to Dr Richard Masozera, who is the former Director-General of Rwanda Civil Aviation Authority (RCAA).<ref name="Rwirwahira">{{cite web |last=Rwirwahira |first=Rodrigue |date=14 December 2012 |title=Kagame leads nation in eulogising patriot and freedom fighter Inyumba |newspaper=The East African |url=https://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/Rwanda/News/Kagame-leads-nation-in-eulogising-Inyumba/1433218-1643938-2i719r/index.html |access-date=20 October 2016}}</ref> The pair began dating when they were both students at Makerere University in Kampala.<ref name="Rwirwahira"/> They had two children, a girl and a boy.<ref name="LastRespects"/>
Inyumba died on 6 December 2012 at her home in Kigali.<ref>{{cite web |last=Musoni |first=Edwin |date=7 December 2012 |title=Minister Aloisea Inyumba dies at 48 |newspaper=The New Times |url=http://www.newtimes.co.rw/section/article/2012-12-07/60544/ |access-date=20 October 2016}}</ref> She had been suffering from throat cancer,<ref>{{cite web |last=Nsanzimana |first=Jean-Christophe |date=10 December 2012 |title=Aloisea Inyumba Laid to Rest |url=http://allafrica.com/stories/201212110100.html |newspaper=Rwanda Focus |access-date=20 October 2016}}</ref> and had recently returned home after seeking treatment in Germany.<ref name="LastRespects"/> Inyumba was granted a state funeral at the Parliament of Rwanda building in Kigali and her eulogy was delivered by the country's president, Paul Kagame.<ref name="LastRespects"/> Kagame described her as a selfless leader who was "a very good cadre and ideologically clear".<ref name="LastRespects"/> Other speakers at the funeral included Cabinet Affairs minister Protais Musoni and the vice-governor of the National Bank of Rwanda, Monique Nsanzabaganwa.<ref name="LastRespects"/>
== See also == * Parliament of Rwanda
== References == {{reflist|3}} === Cited works === *{{cite book |last=Prunier |first=Gérard |year=1999 |title=The Rwanda Crisis: History of a Genocide |edition=2nd |location=Kampala |publisher=Fountain Publishers Limited |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=O3aNPwAACAAJ |isbn=978-9970-02-089-8 }} *{{cite book |last=Kinzer |first=Stephen |year=2008 |title=A Thousand Hills: Rwanda's Rebirth and the Man Who Dreamed it |edition=Hardcover |location=Hoboken, N.J. |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=22QqTsY3CkgC |isbn=978-0-470-12015-6 }}
== External links == {{Wikiquote}} * [https://www.parliament.gov.rw/index.php?id=2 Website of the Parliament of Rwanda]
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Inyumba, Aloisea}} Category:1964 births Category:2012 deaths Category:Family ministers of Rwanda Category:Makerere University alumni Category:Women government ministers of Rwanda