{{short description|Belgian colonial civil servant}} {{Infobox Officeholder |name = Jean-Paul Harroy |image = File:Jean-Paul Harroy.jpg |office = Vice Governor-General<br/>[[List of colonial governors of Ruanda-Urundi|Governor]] of [[Ruanda-Urundi]]<sup>a</sup> |prime_minister = |term_start = March 1955 |term_end = January 1962 |predecessor = [[Alfred-Marie Claeys-Boùùaert|Alfred Claeys-Boúúaert]] |successor = None (position abolished) |prime_minister1 = |term_start1 = |term_end1 = |predecessor1 = |successor1 = |birth_date = {{birth date|1909|05|04|df=y}} |birth_place = [[Schaerbeek]], [[Belgium]] |death_date = {{death date and age|1995|07|08|1909|05|04|df=y}} |death_place = [[Ixelles]], [[Belgium]] |party = |footnotes = <small><sup>a.</sup> The position was re-named "Resident-General of Ruanda-Urundi" in 1960.</small> }}'''Jean-Paul Harroy''' (4 May 1909 – 8 July 1995) was a [[Belgians|Belgian]] colonial civil servant who served as the last [[List of colonial governors of Ruanda-Urundi|Governor]] and only [[Resident-General]] of [[Ruanda-Urundi]]. His term coincided with the [[Rwandan Revolution]] and the assassination of the popular [[Kingdom of Burundi|Burundian]] political leader [[Prince Louis Rwagasore]]. It has been alleged that Harroy may have been implicated in the murder.
==Education and career== Jean-Paul Harroy studied at the [[Solvay Brussels School of Economics and Management|Solvay Business School]] from which he graduated as a business engineer in 1931. In 1936, he obtained a degree in colonial sciences at the [[Free University of Brussels (1834–1969)|Free University of Brussels]] and in 1946 the title of doctor in colonial sciences. His thesis addressed [[soil erosion]] in Central Africa and was entitled ''Afrique, terre qui meurt, la dégradation des sols africains sous l'influence de la colonisation'' ("Africa, a dying land: The Degradation of African Soils under the Influence of Colonization"). This thesis had a certain international impact, both in the United States and in the [[Soviet Union]], and Harroy was widely seen as a leading expert on [[applied ecology]] in Africa.<ref>{{cite news |title=Jean-Paul Harroy est mort: la politique et l'écologie |url=https://www.lesoir.be/art/%252Fjean-paul-harroy-est-mort-la-politique-et-l-ecologie_t-19950711-Z09RNX.html |accessdate=9 January 2019 |publisher=Le Soir |date=11 July 1995}}</ref>
From 1932 to 1935 Jean-Paul Harroy worked in the family company before being appointed to manage the Institut des Parcs Nationaux du Congo belge, a precursor of the [[Institut Congolais pour la Conservation de la Nature]]. From 1948 to 1955, Jean-Paul Harroy was the first secretary-general of the [[International Union for Conservation of Nature|International Union for Protection of Nature]], later to become the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
==Controversy and the assassination of Prince Louis Rwagasore== Harroy arrived in [[Ruanda-Urundi]] in 1955 and served as the [[United Nations Trust Territory|territory]]'s Governor in addition to being the Vice Governor-General of the [[Belgian Congo]]. Following [[Kingdom of Burundi|Urundi]]'s formal request for independence on 20 January 1959, Urundi's first democratic elections took place on 8 September 1961. These elections were won by the [[Union for National Progress]], a multi-ethnic unity party led by [[Prince Louis Rwagasore]], which won just over 80 percent of the electorate's votes. In the wake of the elections, on 13 October, Rwagasore was assassinated.<ref name="state">[https://2009-2017.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/2821.htm Background Note: Burundi]. [[United States Department of State]]. February 2008. Retrieved on 28 June 2008.</ref><ref>[http://web.africa.ufl.edu/asq/v7/v7i1a5.htm "Ethnicity and Burundi’s Refugees"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090105110647/http://web.africa.ufl.edu/asq/v7/v7i1a5.htm |date=2009-01-05 }}, ''African Studies Quarterly: The online journal for African Studies''. Retrieved 12 July 2008.</ref> The assassination was planned by members of the pro-Belgian [[Christian Democratic Party (Burundi)|Christian Democratic Party]] (PDC).<ref>Burundi: Ethnic Conflict and Genocide (Woodrow Wilson Center Press/Cambridge University Press, 1996), {{ISBN|9780521566230}}, pg. 55–56)</ref> Rwagasore had been a notable critic of Harroy's administration.<ref>''afrika focus'' — Volume 28, Nr. 2, 2015 — pp. 156 -164, The murder of Burundi’s prime minister, Louis Rwagasore, Guy Poppe, http://www.afrikafocus.eu/file/96</ref> Prior to his execution, the assassin Jean (Ioannis) Kageorgis explicitly accused Harroy and [[Roberto Régnier]] of responsibility in the murder.<ref>''afrika focus'' — Volume 28, Nr. 2, 2015 — pp. 156 -164, The murder of Burundi’s prime minister, Louis Rwagasore, Guy Poppe, http://www.afrikafocus.eu/file/96</ref>
[[René Lemarchand]] has written that "Harroy is seen by many Barundi as the incarnation of the devil. A more measured assessment suggests that he will probably go down in history as one of the most irresponsible and inept colonial civil servants to preside over the dissolution of colonial rule in Africa."<ref>Burundi: Ethnic Conflict and Genocide (Woodrow Wilson Center Press/Cambridge University Press, 1996), {{ISBN|9780521566230}}, pg. 55–56)</ref>
==Later life== Following his rule as Governor-General of Ruanda-Urundi, Harroy went on to work as a professor at [[Université libre de Bruxelles|Free University of Brussels]].{{citation needed|date=July 2021}} He published memoirs recounting his colonial service in 1987.<ref name= dewitte>{{cite web| last = De Witte| first = Ludo| title = L'assassinat du Premier ministre burundais Louis Rwagasore| website = La Revue Toudi| language = French| publisher = Center d'études wallonnes et de République| date = 16 July 2013| url = http://www.larevuetoudi.org/fr/story/lassassinat-du-premier-ministre-burundais-louis-rwagasore| access-date = 20 July 2021}}</ref> He died in 1995 at [[Ixelles]], a suburb of [[Brussels]].
==Authography== *''Burundi, 1955–1962: Souvenirs d'un combattant d'une guerre perdue'' (1987) *''Rwanda, de la féodalité à la démocratie (1955-1962).'' Bruxelles, éditions Hayez, 1984. 512 p.
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== * [https://archives.africamuseum.be/agents/people/238 Archive Jean-Paul Harroy], Royal museum for central Africa
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Harroy, Jean-Paul}} [[Category:1909 births]] [[Category:1995 deaths]] [[Category:Colonial governors of Ruanda-Urundi]] [[Category:Belgian civil servants]] [[Category:Free University of Brussels (1834–1969) alumni]] [[Category:People from Schaerbeek]]