Liberation Day is a public holiday in Rwanda on July 4 yearly. The holiday commemorates the anniversary when the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) took Kigali and the subsequence victory of the Rwanda Civil war, which ended the Rwandan genocide in 1994.
The Rwandan genocide occurred between April 7 and July 15, 1994, during the Rwandan Civil War. It is estimated that about a million people were killed in about 100 days, most of them Tutsi, by the Hutu extremist-led armed militias. Many Hutu and other minority ethnic groups who opposed or alleged sympathy for the massacres were also killed.
When the massacres started, the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) led by Paul Kagame resumed the fighting and steadily gained in the north and east of the country, ending the killings in the occupied areas. On July 4, the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) took Kigali, Rwanda's capital and largest city.
Following the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) victory, the leaders of the former Rwandan government were exiled, and about two million Hutu fled to refugee camps in neighboring countries.
The following is the list of Liberation Day in Rwanda from 2022 to 2026.
| Holiday | Date | Weekday |
|---|---|---|
| Liberation Day | Jul 04, 2022 | Monday |
| Liberation Day | Jul 04, 2023 | Tuesday |
| Liberation Day | Jul 04, 2024 | Thursday |
| Liberation Day | Jul 04, 2025 | Friday |
| Liberation Day | Jul 04, 2026 | Saturday |
Please check more public holidays in Rwanda: