Frank Habineza

Dr. Frank Habineza entered Rwandan politics, on 14th August 2009 by publicly declaring the formation of the Opposition Democratic Green Party of Rwanda (DPGR) an alternative to the dominant Ruling Rwanda Patriotic Front of President Paul Kagame.

He is also the President of the African Greens Federation a coalition of 30 political parties and movements across the African Continent (www.africangreens.org). He represents Africa on the Council of Global Greens and is now a member of its Executive Committee (www.globalgreens.org).

Dr. Habineza was born in Mityana, Uganda in 1977. Where his parents were staying as political refugees. He attended the National University of Rwanda from 1999 to 2004, graduating in Political and Administrative Sciences with a major in Public Administration. While at University he started a student association campaigning for environment protection, known as Rwanda Wildlife Clubs. He later became a personal assistant to the Minister of Lands, Environment, Water, Forestry and Mines. He was the official correspondent of Rwanda Newsline and UMUSESO Newspapers in Butare. He also worked for the former Rwanda Herald Newspaper. Dr. Habineza was for three years (2006–2009), National Coordinator for the Nile Basin Discourse Forum in Rwanda (NBDF), a civil society platform that had over 50 NGOs involved in the conservation of river Nile, one of the 10 country programs of the Nile Basin Discourse, based in Entebbe, Uganda. He was also the President of the Rwanda NGOs Forum on Water, Sanitation and Environment-RWASEF, Board member of African Civil Society Network on Water and Sanitation-ANEW and founder Chairman for the Rwandan Environment Conservation Organisation (RECOR).

He resigned from all civil society activities when he joined active opposition politics. In August 2010, he was forced to leave his county and sought refuge in Sweden, where he stayed together with his wife and three children. He went back in September 2012 and continued the democratic struggle and finally managed to get the Democratic Green Party of Rwanda officially registered in August 2013. He received a democracy prize in Swedish Parliament in May 2011. He also received a honorary doctorate of humanities due to his fight for democracy and human rights from Bethel College, Indiana, USA in March 2013.