He led the fight of the Hutus against Tutsi aristocracy. Once Rwanda freed itself from colonial domination, he was the nation´s president between 1962 and 1973.

He was born in Musambira, a city belonging to the Gitarama community, in 1924. He founded the Hutu Emancipation Movement Party in 1957 and led the Hutu fight against Tutsi aristocracy.

The Republic of Rwanda was established in January 1961. During the elections that took place in September of that same year, the Parmehutu (Hutu Emancipation Movement Party) party obtained most of the seats in the National Assembly, which voted against restoring the monarchy.

As a result of the UN´s persistence, Belgium granted Rwanda its independence on 01 July 1962, with Grégoire Kayibanda (leader of the Parmehutu) as president. The Parmehutu won the elections again in 1965 and 1969, and Kayibanda was re-elected on both occasions.

Tutsis and Hutus were able to coexist without general clashes. The peasant mass obtained access to education, and the nation, which had few resources, progressed. However, the Tutsis in favour of the exiled monarchical regime organised in neighbouring countries and launched a number of unsuccessful attacks against the Rwandan government. The hate that existed between followers of the Republic, the Hutu majority, and those who supported the previous regime (primarily of the Tutsi ethnic group) increased, and although the clash had not reached critical levels, a significant ethnic division forming that would lead to major conflicts.

In 1972, there were horrible massacres in neighbouring Burundi, which created an anti-Tutsi sentiment in most Hutus located in central Rwanda. The population began to demand firm action from President Kayibanda against the nation´s historically dominant class, but the president´s unsatisfactory response and the instances of government corruption led to General Juvenal Habyarimana´s coup d'état in July 1973.

Habyarimana, a northern Hutu, accused Kayibanda of favouring southern Hutu interests and of attempting to monopolise the nation´s power. Both the Parliament as well as the Parmehutu were dissolved after the coup. Grégoire Kayibanda died in Gitarama in 1976.

Sources:

Biographies of African leaders at Spock

Wikipedia

History of Rwanda