FORBES AFRICA - 50 Most Powerful Women Louise Mushikiwabo
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Louise Mushikiwabo is the fourth and current Secretary General of Organisation internationale de la Francophonie. She previously served as the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation of Rwanda from 2009 to 2018.
She also served as Government Spokesperson. She had previously been Minister of Information.
On 12 October 2018, she was elected for a four-year term for the position of Secretary General of Organisation internationale de la Francophonie at the Summit of Francophonie in Yerevan, Armenia.
Louise Mushikiwabo was born on 22 May 1961 in Kigali, the Rwandan capital.
Her father was Bitsindinkumi, a Tutsi from the Batsobe clan; Bitsindinkumi worked as a farmer, managing the family's smallholding as well as working as a bookkeeper for a colonial coffee plantation.
Her mother was Nyiratulira, a first cousin of the philosopher and historian Alexis Kagame. She spent her childhood in Kigali.
The youngest of nine children, her siblings included Lando Ndasingwa, who became a notable businessman and politician in Rwanda before being killed in 1994 during the Rwandan genocide, and Anne-Marie Kantengwa, who took over Lando's hotel Chez Lando after his death and served in the Parliament of Rwanda from 2003 to 2008. In March 2008, Mushikiwabo was invited by Rwandan President Paul Kagame to return to her homeland Rwanda and take up a position in his government.
She also served as Government Spokesperson. She had previously been Minister of Information.
On 12 October 2018, she was elected for a four-year term for the position of Secretary General of Organisation internationale de la Francophonie at the Summit of Francophonie in Yerevan, Armenia.
Louise Mushikiwabo was born on 22 May 1961 in Kigali, the Rwandan capital.
Her father was Bitsindinkumi, a Tutsi from the Batsobe clan; Bitsindinkumi worked as a farmer, managing the family's smallholding as well as working as a bookkeeper for a colonial coffee plantation.
Her mother was Nyiratulira, a first cousin of the philosopher and historian Alexis Kagame. She spent her childhood in Kigali.
The youngest of nine children, her siblings included Lando Ndasingwa, who became a notable businessman and politician in Rwanda before being killed in 1994 during the Rwandan genocide, and Anne-Marie Kantengwa, who took over Lando's hotel Chez Lando after his death and served in the Parliament of Rwanda from 2003 to 2008. In March 2008, Mushikiwabo was invited by Rwandan President Paul Kagame to return to her homeland Rwanda and take up a position in his government.