Rwamamara Lionel

Biography

Lionel Rwamamara is a Rwandan lawyer and digital-policy practitioner serving as Legal Advisor at the Smart Africa Secretariat in Kigali, where he supports the legal and regulatory agenda of a pan-African alliance advancing affordable broadband and digital transformation across the continent. He brings more than a decade of experience in legal and regulatory affairs, spanning ICT regulation, legislative drafting, trade policy and trade law, licensing, legal due diligence, and policy formulation, with additional depth in energy, energy transition, and climate-related law.

His engagement with technology governance extends to artificial intelligence policy: he served as a Research Group Member at the Center for AI and Digital Policy (2024), contributing to comparative research on AI regulation and digital rights. This work sits at the intersection of law, regulation, and emerging technology that defines contemporary tech diplomacy.

Lionel holds a Master of Laws (LL.M.) in International Trade Law, Contracts and Dispute Resolution from the University of Turin (Italy), a third-cycle university diploma in International Nuclear Law from the Université de Montpellier (France), and postgraduate diplomas in Legislative Drafting and in Legal Practice from Rwanda’s Institute of Legal Practice and Development. Admitted to practice in 2009, he is an Advocate of the High Court and a member of the Rwanda Bar Association.

Earlier in his career, he was a Legal Affairs Fellow at the UN Climate Change (UNFCCC) Secretariat in Bonn, Germany, chaired the Legal Portfolio Committee of the Energy Regulators Association of East Africa, and served as a Senior Legal Officer at the Rwanda Utilities Regulatory Authority. As a Fellow of the Tech Diplomacy Global Institute, he focuses on the legal and governance frameworks that shape Africa’s digital future.