Kubera akarande k’ingengabitekerezo y’amacakubiri na jenoside, ubwicanyi buhoraho, ikibazo kidashira cy’impunzi zabaga hanze y’igihugu n’ubushake buke bwo gushaka inzira y’impinduka za politiki mu mahoro, hashinzwe Ihuriro RANU (Rwandese Alliance for National Unity) mu w’1979, rishyizweho n’abayarwanda baba hanze y’igihugu. Iryo huriro ryari rifite intego yo guhuriza hamwe abanyarwanda mu gushaka ibisubizo ku bibazo bahuriyeho.

Almost a decade later, in 1987, RANU became the Rwandese Patriotic Front (RPF), whose objectives were:
Most of the world had never heard of the RPF until October 1st, 1990 - the day the war of liberation against the military dictatorship in Kigali began.

Taking up arms was not an easy decision to make. War has always been the last option in the consideration of the RPF. However, all efforts for peaceful and democratic change in our country had so far proved futile.

It had become apparent that only by taking up arms could anyone wishing to put an end to the dictatorship and the violation of our peoples' fundamental rights hope to succeed. The regime had ammassed a huge coercive state machinery using violence to oppress the people. The taking up of arms against the regime was therefore considered not just a right, but also a patriotic and national obligation.

When the war began, Rwandese peasants and workers, students and intellectuals, men and women from every region and "ethnic" or social group, responded to the call of the Rwandese Patriotic Front to rid our country of dictatorship.