Before the RPF liberation struggle, before 1990, and before Rwanda’s transformation, there was RANU (Rwandese Alliance for National Unity) — a small underground movement created by Rwandan refugees living in exile.
In this episode of The Long Form Podcast, former Rwandan Minister of Justice and RANU founding member Tharcisse Karugarama tells the story of growing up as a refugee in Uganda, the struggles faced by stateless Rwandans, and how a group of young activists secretly organized a movement that would later become the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF).
Karugarama reflects on the founding of RANU in 1979, meeting Ugandan President Milton Obote, working alongside figures such as Tito Rutaremara, Patrick Mazimhaka, and other early members, debates around socialism and the monarchy, and the decisions that eventually transformed RANU into the RPF in 1987.
This is the story before the war — the ideas, sacrifices, and hidden conversations that shaped modern Rwanda.
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