Rwandan Genocide

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=90 BGCOLOR="#006699" TEXT="#080000" background="0a9fd5a3.jpg"> <div> <B><IMG SRC="0b2c52d0.gif" border=0 width="197" height="45" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B><B>  </B><B> |     </B><A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE=" "><U><B>home</B></U></A><B>                                                     </B><FONT SIZE="7" COLOR="#FF0000" FACE="Arial" ><B>AstroGeoData</B></FONT></div> <div> <A HREF="id262.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="The End of World War I: November 11, 191"><U>The End of World War I: November 11, 1918</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id263.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Wiyot Tribe Massacre: February 26, 1860"><U>Wiyot Tribe Massacre: February 26, 1860</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id270.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="P. R. CHINA"><U>P. R. 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Despite intelligence provided before the killing began, and international news media coverage reflecting the true scale of violence as the genocide unfolded, most first-world countries including France, Belgium, the United States declined to intervene or speak out against the planned massacres. Canada continued to lead the United Nations Peace Keeping force in Rwandan territory.</div> <div> The United Nations established UNAMIR (United Nations Assistance Mission for Rwanda), in October 1993 "to help implement the Arusha Peace Agreement signed by the Rwandan parties on 4 August 1993"; its "mandate" ended in 1996 (UNAMIR official website). Prior to and during the genocide, the UN did not authorize UNAMIR to intervene and to use force quickly and/or effectively enough to halt the killing and other atrocities in Rwanda. While it "adjusted" UNAMIR's "mandate and strength . . . on a number of occasions in the face of the tragic events of the genocide and the changing situation in the country" (official website), given UN Security Council policy and various procedural constraints and other limitations imposed on UNAMIR, the United Nations failed to prevent the genocide. The leader of the U.N. mission was Canadian Lieutenant-General Roméo Dallaire.</div> <div> In the weeks prior to the attacks, the UN did not respond to reports of Hutu militias amassing weapons and rejected plans for a preemptive interdiction. Despite numerous pre- and present-conflict warnings by Dallaire, the United Nations insisted on maintaining its rules of engagement and preventing its peacekeepers on the ground from engaging the militias or discharging their weapons, except in self-defense. Such failure to intervene in a timely and effective manner to halt the killing became the focus of bitter recriminations toward the United Nations, Western countries such as France and the United States, and individual policymakers, including Jacques-Roger Booh-Booh and U.S. President Bill Clinton, who described U.S. inaction as "the biggest regret of my administration."</div> <div> The genocide ended when a Tutsi-dominated expatriate rebel movement known as the Rwandan Patriotic Front, led by Paul Kagame, overthrew the Hutu government and seized power. Fearing reprisals, hundreds of thousands of Hutu and other refugees fled into eastern Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo). The violence and its memory have continued to affect the country and the region. Ethnic hatreds that fueled the Rwandan Genocide quickly spilled over into Congo, continuing after it ended and fueling both the First and Second Congo Wars. Ethnic rivalry between Hutu and Tutsi tribal factions is also a major factor in the Burundi Civil War.</div> <bR> <bR> <div> Background</div> <div> <I>Main article: </I><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#111111" FACE="Arial" ><I>History of Rwanda</I></FONT></div> <div> The key background issue in the Rwandan Genocide is the relationship between the two ethnic groups, the <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#111111" FACE="Arial" >Hutu and the Tutsi.</FONT></div> <bR> <div> Migrations</div> <bR> <div>  </div> <div> Among the current inhabitants of the region now known as Rwanda, the earliest <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#111111" FACE="Arial" >are believed to have been the pygmy Twa. The Twa now account for only about one percent of the country's population and as a group are at the margins of the Rwandan conflict. Anthropological and linguistic evidence suggests that after the Twa settlement, the ancestors of the Hutu immigrated to the region and supplanted the Twa, perhaps in several waves. The last wave of immigration is thought to have brought the ancestral Tutsi. The Tutsis were considered a linguistically separate Hamitic people apparently from eastern Africa, possibly the horn region of the modern Oromo group.</FONT></div> <div> There is some debate about the size of the migrations into Rwanda and the impact of each. Colonial scholars of the early 20th century adopted the preceding migration theory, but current research contests it. Since all three groups now speak the same language and regularly intermarry, some argue that the differences between the Tutsi and Hutu may be exaggerated cultural <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >constructs.</FONT></div> <bR> <div> Geography</div> <div> Some analysts see an economic explanation for the violence in Rwanda. The Great Lakes region has rich volcanic soil and a more temperate climate because of its altitude. Because of the favorable environment, it is one of the most densely populated parts of Africa. This has led to a great deal of competition for scarce land and resources.</div> <div> In his book <I>Collapse</I>, author-scientist Jared Diamond argues that this <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >overpopulation contributed heavily to the violence. He believes that the mayhem of the genocide provided a pretext for some Rwandans to kill their wealthier neighbors in order to seize their land.</FONT></div> <bR> <bR> <div> I<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#111111" FACE="Arial" >n the 15th century, several Tutsi clans merged to establish the Kingdom of Rwanda, which ruled over the region throughout recorded history. Although some Hutus were among the nobility and significant intermingling took place, the Hutu majority made up 82–85% of the population and were mostly poor peasants. In general, the kings, known as Mwamis, were Tutsi.</FONT></div> <div> Before the 19th century, it was believed that the Tutsis held military power while the Hutus possessed supernatural power. In this capacity, the Mwami's council of advisors (<I>abiiru</I>) was exclusively Hutu and held significant sway. By the mid-18th century, however, the <I>abiiru</I> was increasingly marginalized.</div> <bR> <bR> <div> Land Ownership</div> <div> As Tutsi Mwami centralized their power and authority, they distributed land among individuals rather than allowing it to be passed down through lineage groups, of which many hereditary chiefs had been Hutu. Most of the chiefs appointed by the Mwamis were Tutsi. The redistribution of land, enacted <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#111111" FACE="Arial" >between 1860 and 1895 by Mwami Rwabugiri, resulted in an imposed patronage system, under which appointed Tutsi chiefs demanded manual labor in return for the right of Hutus to occupy their land. This system left Hutus in a serf-like status with Tutsi chiefs as their feudal masters.</FONT></div> <div> Under Mwami Rwabugiri, Rwanda became an expansionist state. Rwabug<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >iri did not bother to assess the ethnic identities of conquered peoples and simply labeled all of them “Hutu”. The title “Hutu”, therefore, came to be a trans-ethnic identity associated with subjugation. While further disenfranchising Hutus socially and politically, this helped to solidify the idea that “Hutu” and “Tutsi” were </FONT>socioeconomic, not ethnic, distinctions. In fact, one could <I>kwihutura</I>, or “shed Hutuness”, by accumulating wealth and rising through the social hierarchy.</div> <bR> <div> German Colonial Policy</div> <div> The turning point was the Scramble for Africa and the Berlin Conference, held in 1885. Rwanda and Burundi were ceded to Germany and administered as a joint colonial territory. Because the Germans did not intend to colonize Rwanda themselves, they sought to rule indirectly by appointing an elite class of indigenous inhabitants which could act as functionaries. Drawing on John Hanning Speke's Hamitic Theory of Races, and recognizing that the Tutsi held <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >political power in Rwandan society, they chose the Tutsi to rule. This development further exacerbated the divide between Tutsi and Hutu both economically and politically; historians speculate that it is to be one of the root factors leading to the extreme hostility between the two groups.</FONT></div> <div> Following World War I, Rwanda became a protectorate of Belgium, whose colonial policy over the territory followed the German example and is considered especially influential in priming the genocide. In 1959, Belgium granted Rwanda self-government. Elections advanced the Hutu nationalist party Parmehutu (Parti du Mouvement de l'Emancipation Hutu), which worked to empower the Hutu majority, especially in the western part of the country. In the process, some 20,000 Tutsi were killed and an additional 200,000 fled to neighbouring countries.</div> <bR> <bR> <div> Entrenched Rwandan Racism</div> <div> Some argue that the violence in the region is a result of the theories of race developed in Europe that also led to the Holocaust perpetrated by Nazi Germany. These ideas were started by John Hanning Speke's initial speculations on African races. Unlike the other African states' mixed ethnic groups, Rwandans were considered by Speke and later racial theorists to be divided between sub-Saharan "Blacks" and the favored Hamites. Ostensibly the Tutsi were assigned the role of the "more noble" Hamites and Hutu as inferior Bantu.</div> <div> During the colonial period, the dominant Tutsis encouraged the racial speculations that justified their rule, but that policy poisoned Rwandan culture with racism that became a danger for the Tutsis once they lost power. The ingrained Rwandan racism was reversed when Rwanda gained independence and majority rule gave political power to the Hutus. The majority Hutus who had previously been oppressed by the Tutsis retained the same ingrained racist beliefs, but now came to view the Tutsis as "foreign invaders" rather than "true Rwandans". Similar ethnic and racial divisions in other parts of Northeastern Africa have led to similar violence.</div> <div> Many Rwandans claim that there was little inter-ethnic rivalry until it was <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#111111" FACE="Arial" >deliberately encouraged by the Juvénal Habyarimana government as a ploy to counter Paul Kagame and the Rwandan Patriotic Front's (RPF) largely Tutsi invasion on October 1, 1990.</FONT></div> <div>  </div> <div> Psychology</div> <div> Psychologists have also attempted to explain the genocide that occurred in Rwanda. They have done this by using the available theories. Firstly, the agency theory proposed by Milgram could explain this with strong evidence of the experiments conducted by Milgram. The Charismatic Leadership Theory, Social Identity Theory and Authoritarianism Theory could also be used to explain it.</div> <bR> <div>  </div> <div> P<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#111111" FACE="Arial" >relude to the Genocide</FONT></div> <div> <I>Main article: Rwandan Civil War</I></div> <div> Another source of mounting tensions in 1990 was the grumblings of the Tutsi diaspora in refugee camps ringing the nation, particularly from Uganda. Rwanda had been given independence before Uganda, and the early Tutsi outcasts saw history played out in 30 years of Uganda's history, from independence from Britain, to a fledgling democracy, and on to Idi Amin and successive military overthrows. Rwandans fought alongside Ugandans, where they had helped depose Milton Obote with Yoweri Museveni's National Resistance Army and saw his installation as president in January 1986.</div> <div> The mainly Tutsi Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) was formed in 1985 under Paul Kagame and saw an opportunity in their own country to demand recognition of their rights as Rwandans, including the right of return. On October 1<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >, 1990 RPF forces invaded Rwanda from their base in neighbouring Uganda. The rebel force, composed primarily of Tutsis, blamed the government for failing to democratize and resolve the problems of some 500,000 Tutsi refugees living in diaspora around the world.</FONT></div> <div> The Rwandan government portrayed the invasion as an attempt to bring the Tutsi ethnic group back into power. International reaction was ambiguous. The violence increased ethnic tensions as Hutus rallied around the President. Habyarimana himself reacted by immediately repressing Tutsis and Hutus who were perceived to be in league with Tutsi interests. Habyarimana justified these acts by proclaiming it was the intent of the Tutsis to restore a kind of Tutsi feudal system and thus to enslave the Hutu race.</div> <bR> <div>  Arusha Accords</div> <bR> <div> The Arusha Accords were a set of five accords signed by the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) and the Government of Rwanda in Arusha, Tanzania on August 4, 1993, ending the civil war. The United States and France orchestrated the talks, under the auspices of the Organization of African Unity. The accords stripped considerable power from the once all powerful president, then Juvénal Habyarimana. Most of the power was vested into the Transitional Broad Based Government (TBBG) that would include the RPF as well as the five political parties that had formed the coalition government, in place since April 1992, to govern until proper elections could be held.</div> <div> Of the 21 cabinet posts proposed in the new government, the fo<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >rmer ruling party </FONT>the Mouvement Républicain Nationale pour la Démocratie et le Développement (MRND) was given five posts, and the RPF received the same number. The major opposition party, the Mouvement Démocratique Républicain (MDR; aka Parmehutu), or the Democratic Republican Movement, was given four posts; the Parti Social Démocrate (PSD), or the Social Democratic Party (Rwanda), and the Parti Libéral (PL), or the Liberal Party (Rwanda), each got three portfolios; and the Parti Démocrate Chrétien (PDC), or the Christian Democratic Party (Rwanda), was given one.</div> <div> The Transitional National Assembly (TNA), the legislative branch of the transitional government, was open to all parties, including the RPF. The Hutu-extremist Committee for the Defense of the Republic (CDR), also con<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >trolled by the previous President Habyarimana, was strongly opposed to sharing power with the RPF, however, and refused to sign the accords. When at last it decided to agree to the terms, the accords were opposed by the RPF. The situation remained unchanged until the genocide.</FONT></div> <bR> <div> Preparations for the Genocide</div> <bR> <div> During this period the rhetoric of Hutu nationalism escalated. Radio stations, particularly Radio Télévision Libre des Mille Collines (RTLM), owned by top government leaders, and newspapers, began a campaign of hate and fear. They broadcast and published material referring to the Tutsi as subhuman and making veiled calls for violence. Radical Hutu groups, organized and funded by members of the government, started to amass weapons and conduct training programs. Government leaders met in secret with youth group leaders, forming and arming militias called Interahamwe (meaning "Those who stand (or fight) together" in Kinyarwanda) and Impuzamugambi (meaning "Those who have the same (or a single) goal").</div> <div> There is ample evidence that the killing was well organized and the evidence was presented at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR). By the time the killing started, the militia in Rwanda was 30,000 strong — one militia member for every ten families — and organized nationwide, with representatives in every neighbourhood. Some militia members were able to acquire AK-47 assault rifles by completing requisition form<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >s. Other weapons </FONT>such as grenades required no paperwork and were widely distributed. Many members of the Interahamwe and Impuzamugambi were armed only with machetes, but these were some of the most effective killers.</div> <div> According to Linda Melvern, in <I>Conspiracy to Murder: The Rwanda Genocide and the International Community</I>, convicted war criminal Rwandan Prime Minister Jean Kambanda revealed, in his testimony before the ICTR, that the genocide was openly discussed in cabinet meet<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >ings and that "one cabinet minister said she was personally in favour of getting rid of all Tutsi; without the Tutsi, she told ministers, all of Rwanda's problems would be over."  In addition to Kambanda, the genocide's organizers included Colo</FONT>nel Théoneste Bagosora, a retired army officer, and many top ranking government officials and members of the army, such as General Augustin Bizimungu (who is portrayed in the film Hotel Rwanda). On the local level, the Genocide's planners included Burgomasters, or mayors, and members of the police.</div> <bR> <div>  Arms shipments and the Rwandan Genocide</div> <bR> <div> D<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#111111" FACE="Arial" >elivery from France</FONT></div> <div> In the early morning of January 22, 1994, a DC-8 aircraft loaded with armaments from France, including 90 boxes of Belgian-made 60 mm mortars, was confiscated by UNAMIR at Kigali International Airport. The delivery was in violation of the cease-fire clauses of the Crushable Accords, which prohibite<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >d introduction of arms into the area during the transition period. General Dallaire put the arms under joint UNAMIR-Rwandan army guard. Formally recognizing this point, the French government argued that the delivery stemmed from an old contract and hence was technically legal. Dallaire was forced to give up control over the aircraft.</FONT></div> <bR> <div> Mil-Tec Corporation Ltd (UK)</div> <div> A UK company, Mil-Tec Corporation Ltd, was involved in arms supplies to the Hutu regime at least from June 1993 to mid-July 1994. Mil-Tec had been paid $4.8 million by the regime in return for invoices of $6.5 million for the arms sent. The manager of Mil-Tec, Anoop Vidyarthi, was described as a Kenyan Asian who owned a travel company in North London and was in business with Rakeesh Kumar Gupta. They both fled the UK shortly after the revelations.</div> <bR> <div> Arms shipments by Mil-Tec</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">6<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#111111" FACE="Arial" > June 1993 ($549,503 of ammunition from Tel Aviv to Kigali); </FONT></div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f011111100.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">17 - 18 April 1994 ($853,731 of ammunition from Tel Aviv to Gooma); </div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f011111100.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">22 - 25 April 1994 ($681,200 of ammunition and grenades from Tel Aviv to Goa); </div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f011111100.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">29 April - 3 May 1994 ($942,680 of ammunition, grenades, mortars and rifles from Tirane to Goa); </div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f011111100.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">9 May 1994 ($1,023,840 of rifles, ammunition, mortars and other items from Tirane to Goa); </div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">18 - 20 May 1994 ($1,074,549 of rifles, ammunition, mortars, <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#111111" FACE="Arial" >Rocket propelled grenades and other items from Tirane to Goa); </FONT></div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f011111100.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">13 - 18 July 1994 ($753,645 of ammunition and rockets from Tirane to Kinshasa).</div> <div>  </div> <div> <B>Catalyst for the Genocide: Initial assassinations</B></div> <bR> <div> On April 6, 1994, the airplane carrying the Rwandan President Juvénal Habyarimana, and Cyprien Ntaryamira, the Hutu president of Burundi, was shot down as it prepared to land in Kigali. Both presidents were killed when the plane crashed.</div> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="7f9eeb20.jpg" border=0 width="238" height="178" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">   <IMG SRC="7fabbf80.jpg" border=0 width="187" height="248" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> <B>Juvénal Habyarimana                     Cyprien Ntaryamira</B></div> <bR> <div> Although the exact responsibility for these assassinations has not been established with certainty, one theory is that Paul Kagame, the leader of the RPF who later became President of Rwanda, ordered the plane to be shot down. According to Steven Edwards, in "'Explosive Leak on Rwanda Gen<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#111111" FACE="Arial" >ocide," published in the National Post on 3 Janua</FONT>ry 2000, initially, "UN investigators believed that Hutu extremists within Mr. Habyarimana's family circle had killed him," since, "at the time, he was involved in talks that aimed at sharing power with the Rwandan Patriotic Front, a mainly Tutsi rebel army in which Mr. Kagame was a military leader." But "just three senior UN officials" were given access to this "extremely sensitive . . . confidential report" obtained by the <I>National Post,</I> containing "explosive" claims that Habyarimana's assassination was actually carried out by members of the Rwandan Patriotic Front with foreign help:</div> <div> Three Tutsi informants told UN investigators in 1997 that they were part of an elite strike team that assassinated the Hutu president in 1994, shedding new light on an event that triggered the genocide of at least 500,000 people in Rwanda . . . [and] that the killing of president Juvenal Habyarimana was carried out "with the assistance of a foreign government" under the overall command of Paul Kagame. . . . The informants told the investigators that the [Rwandan Patriotic] front decided to kill Mr. Habyarimana because the group was not pleased with the slow pace of the talks.</div> <div> Specific allegations assigning responsibility for Habyarimana's assassination to Kagame are made by L<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#111111" FACE="Arial" >ieutenant Abdul Ruzibiza, who, in his 2005 book, accuses Kagame of directly planning it in a meeting at RPF headquarters in Mulindi (Byumba, northern Rwanda) on March 31, 1994.</FONT></div> <div> Others claim that the United States CIA was involved in Hab<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >yariman's assassination.</FONT></div> <div> <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >Despite unresolved uncertainty about the actual identities of its perpetrators, many observers view the dramatic airplane attack as a catalyst triggering the subsequent genocide. Rwandans interpreted it as an unambiguous signal: the ultimate killers knew that they were to begin murdering others; Tutsi and moderate Hutu understood that they would be attac</FONT>ked. (The movie <I>Hotel Rwanda</I> dramatizes this phenomenon as a coded radio broadcast instructing Hutus to "cut the tall trees." The real-life hero, Paul Rusesabagina, claims in his autobiography that he indeed heard such a phrase over the radio on the <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >morning of the first day of the genocide.)</FONT></div> <div> On the nights of April 6 and 7 the staff of the <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#111111" FACE="Arial" >Rwandan Armed Forces</FONT> (FAR) and </div> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="7fbcb980.jpg" border=0 width="203" height="152" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> <B>Théoneste Bagosora</B><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#0000FF" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <bR> <div> Colonel Bagosora clashed verbally with the UNAMIR Force Commander General Dallaire, who pointed out the legal authority of the Prime Minister, <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#111111" FACE="Arial" >Agathe Uwilingiyimana, to take the control of the situation as outlined in the Arusha Accords. </FONT></div> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="7fc72870.jpg" border=0 width="114" height="135" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"> </div> <div> <B>Agathe Uwilingiyimana</B></div> <bR> <div> Colonel Bagosora disputed the authority. General Dallaire decided to give an escort of UNAMIR personnel to Mrs. Uwilingiyimana to protect her overnight and to allow her to send a calming message on the radio the next morning. By then, the presidential guard occupied the radio station and Mrs. Uwilingiyimana had to cancel her speech. In the middle of the day, she was assassinated by the presidential guard. The ten Belgian <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#111111" FACE="Arial" >UNAMIR</FONT> soldiers sent to protect her were later found killed. In his book, <I>Me Against My Brother</I>, Scott Peterson describes the barbaric details of their murders:</div> <bR> <div> "Their Achilles tendons were cut so they couldn't run, and the Belgian soldiers — all of them privates — were castrated and died choking on their genitalia".</div> <bR> <div> Other moderate officials who favored the Arusha Accords were quickly assassinated. Protected by U<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#111111" FACE="Arial" >NAMIR, Faustin Twagiramungu esca</FONT>ped execution. </div> <div> Dallaire informs us about events from <B>April 7th, the first day of the genocide</B>:</div> <bR> <div> <U><IMG SRC="7fd05900.jpg" border=0 width="261" height="400" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></U></div> <div> <B>Roméo Alain Dallaire</B></div> <bR> <div> "I called the Force HQ and got through to [Ghanian Brigadier General] Henry [Anyidoho]. He had horrifying news. The UNAMIR-protected VIPS - Lando Ndasingwa [the head of the Parti libéral], Joseph Kavaruganda [,president of the constitutional court] and many other moderates had been abducted by the Presidential Guard and had been killed, along with their families [...] UNAMIR had been able to rescue Prime Minister Faustin, who was now at the Force HQ".</div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rwandan_Genocide" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rwandan_Gen"><U><U>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rwandan_Genocide</U></U></A></div> <bR> <div> ------------------</div> <bR> <div> Also, at:</div> <bR> <div> (http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB119/index.htm)</div> <bR> <div> >>Around <B>8 PM local time on the evening of April 6th, 1994</B> the plane carrying President Juvenal Habyarimana of Rwanda and Cyprien Ntaryamira of Burundi was shot down over Kigali, Rwanda as the presidents returned from a summit of regional leaders in Tanzania. Both men died, as did their senior aides and the French aircrew. Within hours, the Presidential Guard was out on the streets setting up roadblocks in Kigali and going house-to-house to find and attack prominent Rwandan opposition leaders and Tutsi civilians.</div> <div> As Lt. Gen. Dallaire, the UN commander in Rwanda, recalls "In just a few hours, the Presidential Guard had conducted an obviously well-organized and well-executed plan-<B>by noon on April 7</B> the moderate political leadership of Rwanda was dead or in hiding, the potential for a future moderate government utterly lost." </div> <div> <B>The genocide in Rwanda had begun</B>.</div> <bR> <div> With reports of the deaths of the presidents, Washington--and the world--reacted. The U.S. government responded with statements offering condolences and condemning the violence; established inter-agency committees and intra-agency task forces to monitor the situation and coordinate policy; contacted Belgian and French officials to coordinate a response; and ordered the evacuation of American citizens from Rwanda. These documents highlight what the U.S. knew and how it responded in the first three days of the crisis.<<</div> <div> -----------------------</div> <div> <B>Notes</B></div> <div> 1. Lieutenant General Romeo Dallaire with Major Brent Beardsley, <I>Shake Hands with the Devil: The Failure of Humanity in Rwanda</I> (Toronto: Random House Canada, 2003), p. 232.</div> <div> 2. Ibid., p. 233.</div> <div> 3. Jeffrey T. Richelson, <I>The U.S. Intelligence Community</I>, 4th ed., (Boulder: Westview Press, 1999), p. 317. The <I>NID</I> has been succeeded by the <I>Senior Executive Intelligence Brief</I>.</div> <div> 4. Dallaire, p. 298.</div> <div> <<<</div> <bR> <div> <U>_____________________________</U></div> <div> <U>_____________________________</U></div> <bR> <div> Using RIYAL 3.1</div> <bR> <div> Assuming April 6, 1994, at 20:00 local time, 18:00 UT</div> <bR> <div> <B>Astrological Setting (Tropical - Placidus) </B></div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>