April 7, 1994 – The start of the Rwandan genocide
On April 6, 1994, Rwandan PresidentHabyarimina and Burundi’s head of state, Cyprien Ntaryamira,were killed by undetermined assassins when their plane was shot down by arocket-propelled grenade as it was about to land in Kigali. A staunchly anti-Tutsi military government took over power in Rwanda.Within a few hours and in reprisal for the double assassinations, the newgovernment unleashed the Interahamwe “death squads” to murderTutsis and moderate Hutus on sight. Overthe next several weeks, in the event known as the “Rwandan Genocide”,large numbers of civilians were murdered in Kigali and throughout the country. No place was safe; in some instances, evenCatholic churches were the scenes of the massacres of thousands of Tutsis wherethey had taken refuge.
The attackers used clubs, spears,firearms, and grenades, but their main weapon was the machete, with which theyhad trained extensively and which they used to hack away at their victims. At the urging of local officials, Hutucivilians joined in the killing frenzy, and turned against their Tutsineighbors, acquaintances, and even relatives. In many cases, the threat of being killed for appearing sympathetic toTutsis forced many otherwise disinterested Hutus to participate.
(Taken from Rwandan Civil War and Genocide – Wars of the 20th Century– Vol. 2)
The Rwandan Army provided theInterahamwe with a list of Tutsis to be killed, and raised road blocks toprevent any escape. The death toll inthe Rwandan Genocide ranges from between 800,000 to one million; some 10% ofthe fatalities were moderate Hutus. Thegenocide lasted for about 100 days, from between April 6 to July 15, producinga killing rate of 10,000 persons a day. The speed by which it was carried out makes the Rwandan Genocide thefastest in history. (By comparison, theHolocaust in Europe during World War II,although producing a much higher death toll, was carried out over a number ofyears.)
Background Rwanda, a small country in Africa,experienced a long period of ethnic unrest before and after it gained itsindependence in the 1960s. Then in the1990s, this unrest culminated in two events known as the Rwandan Civil War and the Rwandan Genocide, bothof which caused great loss in human lives and massive destruction of thecountry.
The conflict revolved around thehostility between Rwanda’stwo main ethnic groups, the majority Hutus, who comprised 85% of thepopulation, and the Tutsis, who made up 14% of the population. The origin of this hostility goes back manycenturies to when a Tutsi monarchy was established in the Hutu-populated landof what is present-day Rwanda. Over time, the Tutsi monarch gaineddomination over the Hutus. The Tutsimonarch also acquired ownership over most of the land, which he divided intovast estates that were overseen by a hierarchy of Tutsi overlords, and workedby Hutu laborers in a feudal-type system. For the most part, however, Tutsis and Hutus lived in harmony. In the course of time, some Hutus becamewealthy, while many ordinary, non-aristocratic Tutsis remained poor.
Starting in the 1880s, Africa cameunder the control of the European powers who vied for a share of the vastcontinent in the event known as the “Scramble for Africa”. In Rwanda,the Tutsi monarchy fell under the domination of Germany,and during and after World War I, of Belgium. During the colonial period, the Belgians inparticular, emphasized ethnic distinction of the indigenous peoples, and issuedethnic identity cards to natives that indicated if the card holder was a Tutsi,Hutu, or Twa (Twa is a Rwandan tribe that comprises only 1% of thepopulation). The Belgians retained theTutsi monarch as overlord of the colony and appointed Tutsis to administrativepositions in the colonial government. The Belgians believed that Tutsis were racially superior to Hutus. The Belgian policies were resented by Hutus,sowing the seeds of the future conflict.
During the colonial period, Rwanda formed the northern portion of theBelgian colony of Ruanda-Urundi, with the southern half being present-day Burundi (Map 23). Then as a result of growing Africannationalism after World War II, the European powers gradually were grantingindependences to their African colonies. To prepare for Ruanda’s transition todemocracy, the Belgians convinced the Tutsi monarch to abolish feudalism. The Belgians allowed multi-party politics,causing political parties to form – along ethnic lines. Over the previous years, tensions had risenbetween Hutus and Tutsis. By the late1960s as the Belgians prepared to decolonize in the lead-up to Ruanda’s independence, Hutus and Tutsis had becomeconfrontational with each other; violence appeared likely to break out anytime.
Then in November 1959, a Tutsi mobattacked a Hutu politician who was then reported (erroneously) to have beenkilled in the attack. Hutu armed gangslaunched massive retaliatory attacks against Tutsis in Kigali,Ruanda’s capital, and in other areas. Some 20,000 to 100,000 Tutsis were killed,while 150,000 others fled to nearby Urundi, Uganda, Zaire,and Tanzania. The Ruandan Tutsi monarch fled into exile toescape the violence.
Then in a referendum held in 1960,Ruandans voted overwhelmingly to abolish the monarchy. A year earlier, Hutu politicians had scored adecisive victory in the local elections. By a United Nations (UN) mandate, Ruanda-Urundi was dissolved andreplaced by two successor countries, Rwandaand Burundi, both of which gained their independences on July 2, 1962. In the decades that followed theirindependences, the events in each country would have a profound effect on theother country. Rwanda was established as ademocracy, but the Hutus who gained political power ruled the country as a Hutuautocratic state.
The Tutsis who fled the 1959 violenceinto neighboring countries soon militarized, forming armed groups that launchedhit-and-run attacks into Rwanda. One particularly aggressive attack took placein late 1963, when Tutsi rebels based in Ugandacame to within the vicinity of Kigalibefore being driven back by the Rwandan Army.

Map 23: Africa showing location of Rwanda and other East African countries.