For those of you who might want a little more background on the Rwandan Genocide either before or after reading Hunting the Devil, I have compiled a brief background and timeline of the war and posted it here.
The take-home point is that no one cared. No one wanted to admit this was a genocide, because they would have to act to suppress it—and no one would accept that responsibility, including the United Nations and the United States. All in all, the Nancy Kerrigan and Tonya Harding skating debacle garnered more media attention—as did the murder trial of O.J. Simpson for allegedly killing Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman—than the killing of nearly a million people.
I had originally planned this as a 100-day series of posts on social media but decided I couldn’t stomach 100 days of images to accompany my words. The Hunting the Devil eBook will be free on most platforms starting on April 7, 2024, the 30th anniversary of the genocide.
Background for the Rwanda Genocide
After World War I, Belgium ruled Rwanda for thirty years and created the ethnic divisions within that society that later proved so problematic. Based on the then-popular, though highly flawed, pseudo-sciences of anthropometry and physiognomy, the Belgians issued identity cards which pronounced each citizen Hutu, Tutsi, or Twa. As the Tutsi had more European features, the Belgians considered them more intelligent and more superior, making them responsible for the administration of the colony, which inspired hatred among the Hutu. Over time, the two groups internalized these Belgian-inspired theories.
In 1959, the Hutu rebelled, not against Belgium itself, but against the Tutsi governors. Oddly, this revolt was supported by the Belgians, who had come to believe the ethnic majority was also the political majority. Independence was granted in 1962, resulting in the burning of Tutsi homes and self-exile of 300,000 into Uganda.
In October 1990, the army of the RPF (Rwandan Patriotic Front), made up of Tutsi refugees, waged war from Uganda. Belgium failed to support the Hutu government in Rwanda. The frustrated Hutu turned to France who sent troops who managed to repulse the RPF for a time. This resulted in Hutu hating Belgians and Tutsi hating the French.
From 1990 to 1994, the Belgians promoted the goals of dialogue and power-sharing and supported negotiations in nearby Arusha, Tanzania. As the Hutu regime became increasingly oppressive, the Belgians denounced their human rights violations, political assassinations, and localized ethnic massacres. Like the rest of the world, they apparently didn’t believe the Hutu capable of genocide, though that message was openly and frequently voiced on RTML (Milles Collines Free Radio and Television). The UN Security Council formed UNAMIR (United Nations Assistance Mission for Rwanda) in October 1993 to help the parties implement the August 1993 Arusha Accord, monitor its implementation, and support the transitional government being forged in the Arusha, Tanzania, peace talks.
Timeline
April 6, 1994: The airplane carrying Juvénal Habyarimana, the President of Rwanda, and Cyprien Ntaryamira, the President of Burundi, both Hutu, home from the Arusha Accord, was shot down by a rocket-propelled grenade. There were no survivors. The radical RTLM radio channel announced the deaths, blaming the assassinations on the Tutsi minority and urging Hutus to attack Tutsi and moderate Hutu. The state read a list of locations of Tutsi and as well as advice on killing them. The RPF (Rwandan Patriotic Front), and Hutu extremists each blamed the other for the attack. The FAR (Rwandan Armed Forces) military force refused to allow UN forces to inspect the site at the Kigali airport. This incident sparked the Rwandan Genocide, though the ground had been laid for months before as RTML continually broadcast hate rhetoric.
April 7, 1994: FAR, the Interahamwe militia, the Impuzamugambi militia, and other Hutu Power organizations began door-to-door searches to locate and massacre Tutsi and moderate Hutu. Despite the presence of Belgian soldiers to protect her, Prime Minister Agathe Uwilingiyimana, along with her cabinet members, were assassinated. MSF (Médecins Sans Frontières or Doctors Without Borders) Belgium volunteers withdrew from refugee camps to Kigali, and MSF Holland teams witnessed massacres in Murambi.
April 8, 1994: Systematic pillage, rape and massacre of Tutsi by the Interahamwe occurred in Kigali. Paul Kagame, leading the RPF, launched an offensive to end the genocide and rescue soldiers trapped in Kigali. Vastly outnumbered, their strategy was to attack Hutu government compounds but avoid outright war. The day after the death of Prime Minister Uwilingiyimana, Bernard Ntuyahaga, a Hutu major, took the peacekeepers from the residence of the prime minister and transported them to a military camp in Kigali, where they were beaten to death, shot, or killed with machetes. Following the executions of the Belgian soldiers guarding Prime Minister Uwilingiyimana, Belgium decided to pull their 450 troops from Rwanda. Killings spread to other parts of the country. Many Hutu government authorities took refuge at the French embassy including ministers. Hundreds were massacred at St. André College in Nyamirambo, Kigali. An interim Hutu government was formed with Théodore Sindikubwabo, who declared himself president, with Jean Kambanda as prime minister.
April 9, 1994: Under the framework of Operation Amaryllis, 200 French soldiers joined US and Belgian troops to evacuate citizens of Western counties residing in Rwanda. French parachutists arrived who helped evacuate foreign nationals and members of the Habyarimana family, then left Rwanda. Americans were transported by truck convoy to Burundi. Local employees of the embassies were left behind. Hundreds of Tutsis were killed in the Pallottine Missionary Catholic Church in Gikondo. Since the killers clearly targeted only Tutsi, this massacre was the first sign a genocide was occurring. MSF volunteers working at the Kigali Hospital complex found bodies of their patients who were killed during the night, and in Murambi, they saw Tutsi who had taken refuge in an orphanage dragged out and slaughtered.
April 10, 1994: The United Nations established UNAMIR (the United Nations Assistance Mission for Rwanda) on October 5, 1993, then later denied commander Roméo Dallaire additional troops. UNAMIR soldiers guarded thousands of Tutsi who had sought refuge in the Ecole Technique Officielle, a secondary school in Kigali. French troops arrived, but they had flown to Rwanda only to evacuate expatriates. Americans were transported via truck convey to Burundi. Corpses, piling up on the streets of Kigali, were collected for mass burials.
April 11, 1994: UN commander Roméo Dallaire obtained a ceasefire to facilitate the evacuation of expatriates. The UNAMIR soldiers left the Ecole Technique Officielle—and the thousands of people who sought refuge there—unprotected as the soldiers helped the Western evacuees. The Hutu massacred the 2000 people sheltering there.
April 12, 1994: The new Hutu government fled Kigali for Murambi in southern Rwanda. They adopted a new strategy: forcing Tutsi into public locations such as schools, churches, or sports stadiums where they were massacred in large-scale operations. Many Catholic churches, rather than offering true shelter, offered asylum, then turned the refugees over to the Hutu.
April 13, 1994: Belgium withdrew its troops from Rwanda, leaving thousands of unprotected people who had taken refuge at a school serving as Belgian headquarters. Soldiers and Interahamwe attacked the school. Thousands were killed, including the former minister of foreign affairs, Boniface Ngulinzira. The killings triggered the first attack by soldiers and militia on areas where large numbers of Tutsi refugees were concentrated.
April 14, 1994: Belgium announced its withdrawal from the UNAMIR forces. Evacuation of the last foreign nationals was complete, and the French soldiers sent to handle the evacuation returned to France. Mass killings at Kibeho (Gikongoro) hospital.
April 15, 1994: Madeleine Albright, the US Ambassador to the United Nations, requested the complete withdrawal of the United Nations and UNAMIR from Rwanda. Another massacre occurred at the Nyarubuye Roman Catholic Church (Kibungo) and Mubuga parish (Kibuye), and thousands of Tutsi were killed, first by grenades and guns. The killers returned the next day and polished off survivors with machetes and clubs.
April 16, 1994: In Butare, a city in the south of Rwanda, Hutu massacred Tutsi. The Social Democratic Party’s second vice president was murdered. Major killings took place in Mugonero (Kibuye) Parish.
April 17, 1994: Jean-Baptiste Habyalimana was a Rwandan policitian and academic who served as the only Tutsi prefect in Rwanda (for the Prefect of Butare) and was the only prefect in the entire country belonging to the Liberal Party. He was assassinated along with his entire family.
April 18, 1994: Thousands of people gathered in the Kibuye Stadium were killed. The Prefect of Kigali coordinated a Tutsi manhunt. The Rwandan Patriotic Front attacked the radio station RTML but failed to stop its broadcast of hate rhetoric. An estimated 12,000 Tutsis were killed while sheltered at the Gatwaro stadium in Gitesi. Another 50,000 were killed in the hills of Bisesero. More were killed in the town’s hospital and church.
April 19, 1994: Human Rights Watch estimated the total number of people killed at this point at 100,000, but the world still considered the war “tribal warfare,” not a genocide. FAR forces shelled Amahoro Stadium in Kigali and killed twenty-five people.
April 20, 1994: The last of the Belgian peacekeepers left Kigali. FAR soldiers and the Interahamwe militia attacked patients and refugees at Butare University Hospital.
April 21, 1994: After some countries unilaterally withdrew their contingents, the United Nations Security Council in resolution 912, reduced UNAMIR’s strength from 2,548 to 270. Despite its reduced presence, these troops managed to protect thousands of Rwandese who took shelter at sites under UNAMIR control.
April 22, 1994: The RPF transferred its headquarters from Mulindi to Byumba.
April 23, 1994: At least 160 wounded Tutsi were assassinated at a hospital in Butare in front of an MSF team.
April 24, 1994: Hutu militia (the Interhamwe) organized a so-called pacification campaign designed to institute greater control over the killings. This reduced the large-scale massacres as victims were taken to the authorities where they were murdered.
April 25, 1994: Oxfam estimated the number of victims to date to be 500,000, but in the eyes of the world, this was still not a genocide.
April 27, 1994: Pope John Paul II was the first to refer officially to the events in Rwanda as genocide.
April 28, 1994: Massive numbers of Hutu, fearing either reprisals or prosecution for their crimes, fled the advancing RPF, joining hundreds of thousands of Tutsi who poured into Tanzania, Burundi, and Zaïre (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo), resulting in the largest mass migration of people in the history of the world. On April 28 and 29th, 280,000 people fled to Tanzania with another wave going into Zaïre. The mayor of Rusumo refused to open the gate to allow refugees to pass into Tanzania, using them as human shields to thwart the advance of the RPF. Many, including foreign governmental and nongovernmental aid agencies, misinterpreted these people as refugees fleeing the genocide. Oxfam Press release referred to the massacres in Rwanda as genocide, but US was reluctant to classify the killings in Rwanda as genocide. State department spokesperson, Christine Shelley said “…the use of the term genocide has a very precise legal meaning, although it’s not strictly a legal determination. There are other factors in there as well.”
April 30, 1994: The United Nations Security Council continued to condemn the killings but refused to use the term genocide to describe them (on the insistence of the United Kingdom and the United States). Had they used the term, they would have been obligated to act to prevent and punish the perpetrators. First major humanitarian crisis: over 250,000 refugees fled the RPF advance and crossed into Tanzania in one day
May 1, 1994: The RPF shelled the Holy Family Church in Kigali and killed 12 people. The Hutu militia, on the other hand, attacked the Nyundo Cathedral near Kigali, and killed 218. In Butare, 13 Red Cross volunteer workers were killed.
May 2, 1994: At the request of the RPF (Rwandan Patriotic Front), Bernard Kouchner, the former French minister for humanitarian aid arrived in Kigali.
May 3, 1994: The United Nations Security Council, recognizing that UN forces in Rwanda might have to act in self-defence against forces attacking protected people and sites, passed Resolution 918 authorizing an increase in UNAMIR troops.
May 4, 1994: French Foreign Minister Alain Juppé called on the United Nations to give UNAMIR more troops. In an interview on ABC’s Nightline, Boutros Boutros-Ghali, the Secretary-General of the UN affirmed that genocide was taking place in Rwanda.
May 5, 1994: President Bill Clinton stated that the US will only provide military and financial aid for a multilateral operation if it is in America’s national interest. Ugandan President Yoweri Museweni accused the Rwandan interim Hutu government of genocide.
May 13, 1994: Muyira Hill in Bisesero (Kibuye), one of the last strongholds of Tutsi refugees, could no longer resist attacks. A combined force of Hutu soldiers and militia and the local population launched a massive attack, thousands killed.
May 14, 1994: The international Red Cross estimated that 500,000 have been killed.
May 15, 1994: The final phase of the genocide began with the authorities ordering surviving Tutsis to be tracked down and killed, including those who have so far been spared such as priests, doctors, women, and children. “The graves are not full yet.” French Foreign Minister Alain Juppé used the term genocide when speaking to the press after a meeting of the Council of Ministers of the European Union.
May 17, 1994: The U.N. sent 6,800 policemen, under the command of Roméo Dallaire, empowered to defend civilians but took no further action while the killing of Tutsis continued. In Resolution 918, the UN imposed an arms embargo against Rwanda, called for urgent international action, and increased UNAMIR’s strength to 5,500 troops, but the UN’s member states take nearly six months to provide the extra troops. In an MSF United Kingdom Press release, the organization stated UN reinforcement in Rwanda may come too late.
May 18, 1994: Alain Juppé used the term ‘genocide’ in a reply to a current affairs question at the French National Assembly and suggested a summit of Heads of State for Rwanda’s neighboring countries.
May 19, 1994: When the RPF (Rwandan Patriotic Front) shelled the hospital in Kigali, in retaliation, the Rwandan army shelled UN headquarters which was situated in an area under RPF control. Dr. Jean-Hervé Bradol and Dr. Philippe Biberson called on those in charge of the French presidency’s ‘Africa Unit’ to persuade their Rwandan ‘friends’ to stop the massacres.
May 20, 1994: Though the war is considered to have lasted from April 7 through July 15, 1994, most of the killings occurred in the first six weeks, April 7 through May 20, 1994. The killings were unique in that they occurred, not in massive ovens, but up close and personal, performed by individuals acting on orders from a central command and using rudimentary instruments like machetes, farm equipment, and wooden clubs studded with nails. This meant neighbor killing neighbor at a pace that outpaced that of the Holocaust.
May 21, 1994: The United States at last allowed the word genocide to be used in conjunction with the situation in Rwanda when US Secretary of State, Warren Christopher, authorized diplomates to use the term.
May 22, 1994: Kigali airport was taken by the RPF (Rwandan Patriotic Front).
May 23, 1994: Eight African countries say they were prepared to take part in UNAMIR II. In London, Amnesty International published a dossier of massacres committed by government supporters and regular troops.
May 24, 1994: A third extraordinary session of the UN Human Rights Commission in Geneva appointed a special rapporteur, René Degni-Segui (Ivory Coast), tasked with conducting an inquiry into the existence of any genocide.
May 25, 1994: The ICRC hospital in Kigali was shelled, and three members of the Rwandan medical staff were killed
May 26, 1994: Armed militia forced their way into the ICRC hospital in Kigali.
May 27, 1994: Boutros-Ghali referred to the ‘scandalous failure’ of the Member States in their reluctance to commit troops, and to the continuing genocide. The first massive “exchange of refugees” was organized by UNAMIR. Hundreds of Tutsis and Hutu members of the opposition holed up in the Hotel des Mille Collines were ferried towards RPF controlled zones, while Hutus caught up behind the RPF zone in Remera (Kigali) and wishing to join Hutu government-controlled areas were ferried from Amahoro Stadium. The exchange took place in a “no-man’s-land” at the Kacyiru roundabout.
May 29, 1994: Nyanza was taken by the RPF.
May 30, 1994: The Hutu government fled further north and camped in Gisenyi, close to the Zaïre (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo) border.
June 1, 1994: MSF handed its document Genocide in Rwanda – Eyewitness Accounts to the UN Human Rights Commission. An exploratory mission in Cyangugu in the RAF zone couldn’t be followed up as the authorities could not provide safety guarantees.
June 2, 1994: At a seminar, the MSF France board decided to launch an appeal for international armed intervention to halt the genocide. Gitarama fell to the rebels.
June 3, 1994: The RPF kidnapped and assassinated the Catholic Archbishop of Kigali, Vincent Nsengiyumva, three bishops, and ten priests near Kagbayi, in the parish of Byimana.
June 8, 1994: UN Security Council Resolution 925 admitted that acts of genocide had been committed in Rwanda. The French government released generous funding for humanitarian organisations.
June 14, 1994: The French established Opération Turquoise, calling it a military-humanitarian intervention.
June 15, 1994: French Foreign Minister Alain Juppé said France was ready to intervene with its African and European partners in Rwanda in order to protect those groups threatened with extermination. The appeal ‘Let’s not let hunger finish off the genocide’ was published in the French daily ‘Libération’ by the following French organisations: Médecins du Monde, Pharmaciens Sans Frontières, Handicap International, Atlas, Citoyens Solidaires, SOS Racisme.
June 16, 1994: RPF (Rwandan Patriotic Front) launched a commando raid behind enemy lines to rescue refugees at St. Paul church in the center of Kigali, hundreds were rescued and taken behind RPF lines.
June 17, 1994: Boutros-Ghali declared his support for the French initiative. Refugees were massacred at St. Famille church in retaliation for a previous day’s raid on nearby St. Paul.
June 18, 1994: France announced its intention to address the UN Security Council regarding ‘Operation Turquoise,’ a targeted military intervention for humanitarian ends in Rwanda, with or without the support of other countries. Publication by MSF France called for armed intervention to put a stop to the genocide: ‘You can’t stop genocide with doctors’ in Le Monde, 18 April edition.
June 22, 1994: The UN Security Council in resolution 929 authorized the deployment of French forces in southwest Rwanda to create a safe area in the Hutu government-controlled part of the country. In reality, Opération Turquoise protected Hutu génocidaires and stalled the movement of the RPF. Helicopters laid a Hansel-and-Gretel trail of water, food, and medications that the génocidaires could follow as they escaped into eastern Zaïre (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo). Charges were raised against the French for complicity in genocide and crimes against humanity. Tutsi victims stated the French soldiers did nothing to stop genocide and, in fact, undermined UNAMIR and the United Nations efforts. MSF International met to clarify the MSF position regarding the French intervention: Better nothing than the French.
June 23, 1994: Opération Turquoise, scheduled to last 2 months, placed 2,500 soldiers in Goma and Bukavu. The presence of the French troops failed to stop the killings. The RPF forcibly evacuated between 70,000 and 100,000 people from Ruhango and Nyanza to Nyamata and Rilima.
June 24, 1994: MSF Belgium Press release stated: ‘3,500 civilians evacuated following increased tension south of Gitarama. The MSF France board reiterated that there was no alternative to armed intervention.
June 28, 1994: Back from a mission in Rwanda, UN Human Rights Commission rapporteur René Degni-Ségui confirmed that the term genocide could be applied to the Tutsi massacres and called for the establishment of an international criminal court. The United Nations published a report on the genocide of Tutsis.
June 30, 1994: MSF France refused to join in condemnation of French intervention in Rwanda by the main French humanitarian and human rights organizations.
July 1, 1994: Security Council adopted Resolution 935 calling for a committee of impartial experts to examine and analyze evidence of possible acts of genocide. MSF Belgium board criticized MSF France’s call for armed intervention. An MSF Belgium Press release advised the population displacement ordered by the RPF (Rwandan Patriotic Front) would occur in poor conditions and with no real preparation.
July 3, 1994: Opération Turquoise forces exchanged fire with the RPF as it advanced toward Gikongoro. Fearing retribution, the perpetrators of the genocide rushed to kill any survivors who could testify to the atrocities the FAR army and its militias committed. Butare was taken by the RPF.
July 4, 1994: The RPF took control of Kigali and Butare. French troops ere ordered to form a front to halt the RPF advance. Kigali was taken by the RPF. A massive exodus of Rwandans, fleeing advancing RPF forces, started towards the northwest region (Ruhengeri, Gisenyi) occupied by the interim Hutu government.
July 5, 1994: The RPF took control of the presidential palace and also took Ruhengeri in northern Rwanda. The French established a safe zone in the southwest corner of Rwanda.
July 6, 1994: 850,000 refugees crossed into Zaïre (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo). Creation of a Government of National Union in Rwanda.
July 9, 1994: MSF Belgium HQ in Brussels received a confidential report by the coordinator of MSF Belgium, on RPF human rights violations in Rwanda.
July 13, 1994: Hutu refugees continued to pour into Zaïre, now totaling a million people.
July 14, 1994: Ruhengeri was taken by the RPF. Several hundred thousand Rwandans arrived in Goma, Zaïre (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo).
July 15, 1994: The Clinton Administration refused to recognise the interim government in Rwanda.
July 16, 1994: Rwandan armed forces arrived in Goma. Thirteen ministers and the self-proclaimed president of the interim Hutu government took refuge in the safe humanitarian zone.
July 17, 1994: The RPF captured Gisenyi and Ruhengeri and declared the end of the war. The interim Hutu government took refuge in Zaïre. Pasteur Bizimungu wass named President of the Rwandan Republic by the RPF. United Nations Rwanda Emergency Office Liaison in Goma reported that over a million Rwandans had crossed into Zaïre.
July 18, 1994: The RPF declared a ceasefire. Only July 22, the Rwandan government called for all refugees to return home and for civil servants to go back to work. On August 21, the troops of Opération Turquoise withdrew.
July 19, 1994: Establishment of a Government of National Unity in Rwanda. The new government of national unity was sworn in with Pasteur Bizimungu as president, Major General Paul Kagame as vice president, and Faustin Twagiramungu as Prime Minister.
This listing is clearly incomplete and may be inaccurate, but all inaccuracies remain my own as I pulled from a mind-numbing list of resources to put it together.
