How Rwanda's genocide unfolded
In the year 1994, at least 800,000 mainly Tutsi people were beaten, hacked or shot to death in Rwanda's genocide, a roughly 100-day killing spree carried out mostly by Hutu forces.
Let's take a moment to remember the atrocities and understand what happened back then:
On April 6, 1994, Rwanda's president, Juvenal Habyarimana, is killed when his aircraft is shot down over Kigali. From the Hutu majority, he is returning from peace talks in Tanzania with Tutsi rebels of the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF). His death unleashes a killing spree by Hutu forces and militia. The Tutsis are accused by the Hutu authorities of colluding with RPF rebels who have come in from neighbouring Uganda.
On April 6, 1994, Rwanda's president Juvenal Habyarimana was killed when his aircraft was shot down over Kigali.
Habyarimana who belonged to the Hutu majority was returning from peace talks in Tanzania with Tutsi rebels of the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF).
His death unleashed a killing spree by Hutu forces and the militia.
The Tutsis were accused by the Hutu authorities of allegedly colluding with RPF rebels who came from neighbouring Uganda.
(Photograph:AFP)
The next day soldiers of the elite presidential guard kill the moderate Hutu prime minister, Agathe Uwilingiyimana, as well as 10 Belgian paratroopers guarding her. Massacres start. Authorities distribute lists of people to be killed, mostly Tutsis but also opposition Hutus; troops and militia set up roadblocks and go house-to-house looking for targets.
Soldiers of the elite presidential guard killed the moderate Hutu prime minister, Agathe Uwilingiyimana, as well as 10 Belgian paratroopers guarding her.
As massacres started, authorities allegedly distributed lists of people to be killed, mostly Tutsis but also opposition Hutus as troops and militia set up roadblocks and reportedly conducted house-to-house searches looking for targets.
(Photograph:AFP)
The Mille Collines radio station exhorts Hutus to kill Tutsi "cockroaches" and to rape and loot. Men, women and children are massacred in the streets, in their homes and even in churches and schools where they seek refuge. Ordinary people, encouraged by the authorities and the media, widely take part in the killings. A quarter of a million women were raped under a systematic campaign carried out by Hutu government soldiers and their allied militia, the Interahamwe, and sometimes by local men
The Mille Collines radio station reportedly exhorted Hutus to kill Tutsi.
Men, women and children were massacred in the streets, homes and even in churches and schools where they sought refuge. Ordinary people encouraged by the authorities and the media allegedly took part in the killings.
A quarter of a million women were raped under a systematic campaign carried out by Hutu government soldiers and their allied militia and sometimes by local men, even neighbours.
(Photograph:AFP)
The international community is helpless faced with the carnage. A UN peacekeeping operation is on April 21 reduced from around 2,300 to 270 men. A week later Doctors Without Borders (MSF) says a "genocide" is underway.
The international community was helpless at the time as the carnage unfolded.
A UN peacekeeping operation on was reduced from around 2,300 to 270 men.
A week later Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said a "genocide" is underway.
(Photograph:AFP)
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On June 22 France deploys Operation Turquoise, a UN-mandated force tasked with protecting displaced persons and civilians. The Rwandan Patriotic Front(RPF) accuses the force of seeking to protect the regime and the perpetrators of the genocide. A week later the UN Human Rights Commission special rapporteur says the slaughter legally qualifies as "genocide" and appears to have been planned.
France started Operation Turquoise, a UN-mandated force tasked with protecting displaced persons and civilians. The Rwandan Patriotic Front(RPF) accused the force of seeking to protect the regime and the perpetrators of the genocide.
A week later the UN Human Rights Commission special rapporteur said the slaughter legally qualifies as "genocide" and appears to have been planned.
(Photograph:AFP)
On July 4 the mainly Tutsi RPF soldiers finally seize the capital Kigali and the killing ends. The UN will later estimate 800,000 people lost their lives. Hundreds of thousands of Hutus, fearing reprisals, flee to neighbouring Zaire, today's Democratic Republic of Congo.
The mainly Tutsi RPF soldiers finally seized capital Kigali and the killing ended. The UN will later estimate 800,000 people lost their lives.
Hundreds of thousands of Hutus, fearing reprisals fled to neighbouring Zaire, today's Democratic Republic of Congo.
(Photograph:AFP)
In November 1994 the UN sets up the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda in neighbouring Tanzania to try the main perpetrators. In 1998 it becomes the first international court to hand down convictions for genocide. The court issues dozens of rulings before closing in 2015. Its work is taken over by the Mechanism for International Criminal Tribunals (MICT), with offices in The Hague and Tanzania. Convictions are made internationally too, including in Belgium, a former colonial power.
In November 1994 the UN sets up the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda in neighbouring Tanzania to try the main perpetrators. In 1998 it becomes the first international court to hand down convictions for genocide.
The court issues dozens of rulings before closing in 2015. Its work is taken over by the Mechanism for International Criminal Tribunals (MICT), with offices in The Hague and Tanzania.
Convictions are made internationally too, including in Belgium, a former colonial power.
(Photograph:AFP)
Contrary to children who were orphaned, those born of rape in the small, mountainous, East African country were not recognised as survivors of the genocide.
Over 100 days in 1994, around 800,000 minority Tutsis and moderate members of the Hutu majority were murdered, in a campaign orchestrated and amplified allegedly by the extremist Hutu government.
But there are other victims too, a quarter of a million women were raped and from this unspeakable violence, an estimated several thousand children were born, doomed to shame in a country where not knowing one's paternal lineage is deemed a dishonour.