Editing Kigali (section)

===Post-independence era===
Kigali became the capital upon [[Decolonization#After 1945|Rwandan independence]] in 1962.<ref>{{Cite news |url=http://www.newtimes.co.rw/section/read/46025/ |title=100 mayors for City centenary celebrations |last=Muramila |first=Gasheegu |work=[[The New Times (Rwanda)|The New Times]] |access-date= 12 March 2018}}</ref>{{sfn|Cybriwsky|2013|pp=140–141}} Two other cities were considered: Nyanza, as the traditional seat of the ''mwami'', and the southern city of [[Butare]] (known as Astrida under the Belgians), due to its prominence as a centre of intellect and religion.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.lonelyplanet.com/rwanda/huye-butare/background/history/a/nar/e45988fd-dd30-42c7-95e2-bee8b0e2c763/1331548 |work=[[Lonely Planet]] |title=History in Huye (Butare) |access-date=10 May 2020}}</ref> The authorities eventually chose Kigali because of its more central location. The city grew steadily during the following decades; in the early 1970s the population was 25,000 with only five paved roads, and by 1991 it was around 250,000.{{sfn|REMA|2013|p=21}} On 5 July 1973 there was [[1973 Rwandan coup d'état|a bloodless military coup]], in which minister of defence Juvénal Habyarimana overthrew ruling president [[Grégoire Kayibanda]].<ref>{{cite news |last=Mohr |first=Charles |date=7 July 1973 |title=Rwanda Coup Traced to Area Rivalry and Poverty |work=[[The New York Times]] |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1973/07/07/archives/rwanda-coup-traced-to-area-rivalry-and-poverty-coup-began-before.html |access-date=9 June 2018}}</ref> Military officers had gathered in Kigali for a [[military tattoo]] to commemorate Independence Day a few days earlier, and they began occupying government buildings from dawn on 4 July.<ref>{{cite news |work=[[The Tablet]] |first=Ian |last=Linden |date=11 August 1973 |access-date=1 February 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150923053633/http://archive.thetablet.co.uk/article/11th-august-1973/3/rwandas-quiet-coup |url=http://archive.thetablet.co.uk/article/11th-august-1973/3/rwandas-quiet-coup |archive-date=23 September 2015 |title=Rwanda's quiet coup |page=3}}</ref> Businesses closed for a few days, and troops patrolled across the city,<ref>{{cite news |agency=[[Associated Press]] |date=6 July 1973 |title=Military Coup in Rwanda Follows Tribal Dissension |work=[[The New York Times]] |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1973/07/06/archives/military-coup-in-rwanda-follows-tribal-dissension.html |access-date=9 June 2018}}</ref> but the coup was bloodless and life continued as normal, historian [[Gérard Prunier]] describing the reaction as "widespread popular relief".{{sfn|Prunier|1999|p=61}} According to a [[United States Department of State|US Department of State]] diplomatic cable sent shortly afterwards, the disruption following the coup was short-lived and the army had left the streets by 11 July.<ref>{{cite web |publisher=[[United States Department of State]] |date=11 July 1973 |title=Cable: Rwanda Coup |url=https://aad.archives.gov/aad/createpdf?rid=53862&dt=2472&dl=1345 |access-date=2 February 2021}}</ref>

Kigali was not directly affected during the first three years of the 1990–1994 [[Rwandan Civil War]], although the rebel [[Rwandan Patriotic Front]] (RPF) did come close to attacking the city in February 1993.{{sfn|Prunier|1999|p=175}} In December of the same year, following the signing of the [[Arusha Accords (Rwanda)|Arusha Accords]], [[United Nations Assistance Mission for Rwanda|a United Nations peacekeeping force]] was established in the city, and the RPF were granted use of a building in the city for their diplomats and soldiers.{{sfn|Dallaire|2005|p=130}} In April 1994 President Habyarimana [[Assassination of Juvénal Habyarimana and Cyprien Ntaryamira|was assassinated]] when his plane was shot down near [[Kigali International Airport]]. Burundian president [[Cyprien Ntaryamira]] was also killed in the attack.<ref>{{cite news |work=[[BBC News]] |date=12 January 2010 |title=Hutus 'killed Rwanda President Juvenal Habyarimana' |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/8453832.stm |access-date=10 November 2015}}</ref> This was the [[Catalysis|catalyst]] for the [[Rwandan genocide]], in which 500,000–800,000 Tutsi and politically moderate Hutu were killed in well-planned attacks on the orders of the interim government.{{sfn|Dallaire|2005|p=386}}<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Guichaoua |first1=André |title=Counting the Rwandan Victims of War and Genocide: Concluding Reflections |journal=Journal of Genocide Research |date=2020 |volume=22 |issue=1 |pages=125–141 |doi=10.1080/14623528.2019.1703329|s2cid=213471539 }} 500,000–800,000 is the range of scholarly estimates listed on the third page of the paper.</ref> Opposition politicians based in Kigali were killed on the first day of the genocide,<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-13431486 |access-date=11 May 2020 |title=Rwanda: How the genocide happened |work=[[BBC News]] |date=7 May 2011}}</ref> and the city then became the setting for fierce fighting between the army and the RPF including at the latter's base.{{sfn|Dallaire|2005|pp=264–265}} The RPF began attacking from the north of the country, and gradually took control of most of Rwanda between April and June.{{sfn|Dallaire|2005|p=288}} After encircling Kigali and cutting off its supply routes,{{sfn|Dallaire|2005|p=299}} they began fighting for the city itself in mid-June.{{sfn|Dallaire|2005|p=421}} The government forces had superior manpower and weapons but the RPF fought tactically,{{sfn|Dallaire|2005|p=421}} and were able to exploit the fact that the government forces were concentrating on the genocide rather than the fight for Kigali.{{sfn|Dallaire|2005|p=421}} The RPF took control of Kigali on 4 July,{{sfn|Dallaire|2005|p=459}} a date now commemorated as [[Liberation Day (Rwanda)|Liberation Day]], a [[Public holidays in Rwanda|Rwandan national holiday]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Official holidays |url=http://www.gov.rw/Official-holidays |access-date=12 November 2013 |publisher=[[Government of Rwanda]] |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130911035627/http://www.gov.rw/Official-holidays |archive-date=11 September 2013 }}</ref>

Since the war and genocide, the city has experienced rapid population growth as a result of migration from other areas, as well as a high birth rate.{{sfn|REMA|2013|p=viii}} Buildings that were heavily damaged during the fighting have been demolished, much of the city has been rebuilt, and modern office buildings and infrastructure now exist across the city. A masterplan, adopted by the city and the government in 2013 and supported by international finance and labour, seeks to establish Kigali as a decentralised modern city by 2040.<ref name="KigaliSparkles"/> The development has been accompanied by forced eviction of residents in informal housing zones, however, and groups such as [[Human Rights Watch]] have accused the government of removing poor people and children from the city's streets and moving them to detention centres.<ref>{{Cite news | url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/apr/04/kigali-plan-rwandan-city-afford-new-homes-offices | title=Kigali's future or costly fantasy? Plan to reshape Rwandan city divides opinion| newspaper=The Guardian| date=4 April 2014 |last1=Topping |first1=Alexandra |access-date=10 May 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |access-date=1 February 2021 |title="Why Not Call This Place a Prison?" – Unlawful Detention and Ill-Treatment in Rwanda's Gikondo Transit Center |date=24 September 2015 |url=https://www.hrw.org/report/2015/09/24/why-not-call-place-prison/unlawful-detention-and-ill-treatment-rwandas-gikondo |publisher=[[Human Rights Watch]]}}</ref>