On April 6, 1994, President of Rwanda Juvénal Habyarimana and his Burundian counterpart, President Cyprien Ntaryamira, were assassinated when their plane was shot down as it approached Kigali International Airport.
This event triggered a wave of violence against the Tutsi community and moderate Hutus, led by a Hutu militia group known as the Interahamwe, a Kinyarwanda word, which translates to “Those who attack together.”
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The militia accused a Tutsi-associated rebel group of orchestrating the assassination of the two presidents, which escalated the killings of Tutsis.
Following the assassination, on the evening of April 7, 1994, the Hutu militia attacked Prime Minister Agathe Uwilingiyimana, a moderate Hutu and strong advocate for the Arusha Accords aimed at establishing peace and power-sharing between the Rwandan government and the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF).
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Genocide Begins in Rwanda
She was killed along with 10 Belgian soldiers from the United Nations peacekeeping force who were guarding her.
The militia continued a killing spree against Tutsis and moderate Hutus for the following months.
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Most victims were murdered using machetes, which were widely available and distributed by extremist leaders. Victims were often gathered in churches, schools, hospitals, and stadiums under the false promise of safety, only to be brutally slaughtered.
The militia would also burn buildings and shoot or hack people to death within these locations.
Radio broadcasts, particularly from RTLM (Radio Télévision Libre des Mille Collines), fueled the genocide by inciting Hutu civilians to kill their Tutsi neighbors, who were derogatorily referred to as “cockroaches” that needed to be eliminated.
During the genocide, the international community attempted to intervene and called for a ceasefire, but these efforts were largely ineffective.
At that time, the United Nations had deployed peacekeepers under the United Nations Assistance Mission for Rwanda (UNAMIR), which had been sent in October 1993 to monitor the peace agreement between the Rwandan government and the RPF.
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When the genocide began in April 1994, UNAMIR had a limited mandate and inadequate resources to halt the violence.
After the killing of the 10 Belgian peacekeepers guarding the Rwandan Prime Minister, Belgium withdrew its troops, and the UN reduced its presence instead of reinforcing it. The UN peacekeepers were largely unable to intervene effectively and were mostly restricted to protecting certain properties.
The genocide lasted until mid-July, when forces of the RPF, led by Paul Kagame, restored order in most parts of the country. After securing the area, many Hutu leaders who had perpetrated the genocide, including members of the government, fled the country.
In the aftermath of the genocide, it was estimated that over 800,000 civilians—both Tutsis and moderate Hutus—were killed.
A transitional national unity government was established on July 19, with Pasteur Bizimungu, a Hutu, serving as president and RPF leader Paul Kagame, a Tutsi, as vice president.
Theories About the Genocide
Prominent individuals associated with the genocide were apprehended and convicted, including Théoneste Bagosora, a senior military officer in the Rwandan army who was sentenced to life imprisonment by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), and Félicien Kabuga, a businessman who financed the genocide and was involved in hate media. Kabuga was arrested in France in May 2020, with his trial beginning in September 2022.
Today, the Rwandan government has established a memorial site known as the Kigali Genocide Memorial, dedicated to commemorating the victims of the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi.
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This memorial serves as a place of remembrance and learning, where over 250,000 victims are laid to rest. been laid to rest.
The assassination of Rwandan President Juvénal Habyarimana and Burundian President Cyprien Ntaryamira on April 6, 1994, remains an unresolved issue.
One theory suggests that the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) forces were responsible for the attack, aiming to destabilize the Hutu-led government and seize power.
Another theory argues that Hutu extremists opposed to the Arusha Accords and the idea of power-sharing with the Tutsis orchestrated the assassination to justify the planned genocide.
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