Richard Sezibera

Secretary General, East African Community

Date of Birth: 1964
Place of Birth: Kigali

Commentary

Richard Sezibera gained his medical degree from Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda, in 1989. He worked at hospitals in Kampala and Mbale, then joined the Rwandan Patriotic Front as a field medical officer, rising to the rank of Major.

In July 1994, shortly after the RPF captured Kigali, Sezibera was made physician to President Pasteur Bizimungu. Sezibera launched his political career in 1995, winning a parliamentary seat. He then served as President of the Parliamentary Commission on Social Affairs.

In 1999, Sezibera was named Ambassador to the United States, Mexico, Argentina and Brazil. He took a master’s in international affairs in 2003 at Georgetown University, Washington, DC.

On his return to Kigali, he became President Paul Kagame’s Special Envoy for the Great Lakes Region and Chairman of Rwanda’s Committee on Regional Integration, leading negotiations that took Rwanda into the EAC in 2007. He was Health Minister from October 2008 to April 2011, when his five-year term as EAC Secretary General began.