Rwandan Civil War

Pre-independence Rwanda and origins of Hutu, Tutsi and Twa

A reconstruction of the King of Rwanda's palace at Nyanza

The earliest inhabitants of what is now Rwanda were the Twa, a group of aboriginal pygmy hunter-gatherers who settled in the area between 8000 BC and 3000 BC and remain in Rwanda today.^[2][3] Between 700 BC and 1500 AD a number of Bantu groups migrated into Rwanda and began to clear forest land for agriculture.^[4][3] The forest-dwelling Twa lost much of their habitat and moved to the slopes of mountains.^[5] Historians have several theories regarding the nature of the Bantu migrations. One theory is that the first settlers were Hutu, while the Tutsi migrated later and formed a distinct racial group, possibly originating from the Horn of Africa.^[6] An alternative theory is that the migration was slow and steady, with incoming groups integrating into rather than conquering the existing society.^[7][3] Under this theory the Hutu and Tutsi distinction arose later and was a class distinction rather than a racial one.^[8][9]

The population coalesced, first into clans (ubwoko)^[10] and then, by 1700, into around eight kingdoms.^[11] The Kingdom of Rwanda, ruled by the Tutsi Nyiginya clan, became the dominant kingdom from the mid-eighteenth century,^[12] expanding through conquest and assimilation.^[13] It achieved its greatest extent under the reign of Kigeli Rwabugiri in 1853–1895. Rwabugiri expanded the kingdom west and north, while initiating administrative reforms which caused a rift to grow between the Hutu and Tutsi populations.^{[14] [12]} These included uburetwa, a system of forced labour which Hutu had to perform to regain access to land seized from them,^[15] and ubuhake, under which Tutsi patrons ceded cattle to Hutu or Tutsi clients in exchange for economic and personal service.^[16] Rwanda and neighbouring Burundi were assigned to Germany by the Berlin Conference of 1884,^[17] and Germany established a presence in the country in 1897 with the formation of an alliance with the king.^[18] German policy was to rule the country through the Rwandan monarchy; this system had the added benefit of enabling colonisation with small European troop numbers.^[19] The colonists favoured the Tutsi over the Hutu when assigning administrative roles, believing them to be migrants from Ethiopia and racially superior.^[20] The Rwandan king welcomed the Germans, using their military strength to reinforce his rule and expand the kingdom.^[21] Belgian forces took control of Rwanda and Burundi during World War I,^[22] and from 1926 began a policy of more direct colonial rule.^[23][24] The Belgian administration, in conjunction with Catholic clerics, modernised the Rwandan economy.^[25] They also increased taxes and employed Rwandans in forced labour.^[26] Tutsi supremacy remained, reinforced by Belgium's enthusiastic support of the monarchy, leaving the Hutu disenfranchised.^[27] In 1935, Belgium introduced identity cards labelling each individual as either Tutsi, Hutu, Twa or Naturalised. While it had previously been possible for particularly wealthy Hutu to become honorary Tutsi, the identity cards prevented further movement between the groups.^[28]

Revolution, exile of Tutsi, and the Hutu republic

After 1945 a Hutu counter-elite developed,^[29] demanding the transfer of power from Tutsi to Hutu.^[30] The Tutsi leadership responded by trying to negotiate a speedy independence on their terms but found the Belgians no longer supported them.^[31][32] There was a simultaneous shift in the Catholic Church,^[33] with prominent conservative figures in the early Rwandan church replaced by younger clergy of working-class origin. Of these a greater proportion were Flemish rather than Walloon Belgians and sympathised with the plight of the Hutu.^[34] In November 1959 the Hutu began a series of riots and arson attacks on Tutsi homes, following false rumours of the death of a Hutu sub-chief in an assault by Tutsi activists.^[35] Violence quickly spread across the whole country, beginning the Rwandan Revolution.^[36] The king and Tutsi politicians launched a counterattack^[37] in an attempt to seize power and ostracise the Hutu and Belgians,^[38] but were thwarted by Belgian colonel Guy Logiest, who was brought in by the colonial governor.^[37] Logiest re-established law and order and began a programme of overt promotion and protection of the Hutu elite.^[39] He replaced many Tutsi chiefs with Hutu and effectively forced King Kigeli V into exile.^[40]

Logiest and Hutu leader Grégoire Kayibanda declared the country an autonomous republic in 1961 and it became independent in 1962.^[41] More than 336,000 Tutsi left Rwanda to escape the Hutu purges,^[42] settling primarily in the four neighbouring countries of Burundi, Uganda, Tanzania and Zaire.^[43] The Tutsi exiles were regarded as refugees in their host countries,^[44] and sought a quick return to Rwanda.^[45] They formed armed groups and launched attacks on Rwanda, the largest of which advanced close to Kigali in 1963.^[46] These groups were known in Kinyarwanda as the inyenzi (cockroaches).^[47] Historians do not know the origin of this term – it is possible the rebels coined it themselves, the name reflecting the fact that they generally attacked at night.^[48] The inyenzi label resurfaced in the 1990s as a highly derogatory term used by Hutu hardliners to dehumanise Tutsi.^[48] The inyenzi attacks of the 1960s were poorly equipped and organised and the government defeated them, following up with the slaughter of an estimated 10,000 Tutsi within Rwanda.^[46]

Kayibanda presided over a Hutu republic for the next decade, imposing an autocratic rule similar to the pre-revolution feudal monarchy.^[49] In 1973 Hutu army officer Juvénal Habyarimana toppled Kayibanda in a coup.^[50] He founded the National Republican Movement for Democracy and Development (MRND) party in 1975,^[51] and promulgated a new constitution following a 1978 referendum, making the country a one-party state in which every citizen had to belong to the MRND.^[52] Anti-Tutsi discrimination continued under Habyarimana but the country enjoyed greater economic prosperity and reduced anti-Tutsi violence.^[50] A coffee price collapse in the late 1980s caused a loss of income for Rwanda's wealthy elite, precipitating a political fight for power and access to foreign aid receipts.^[53] The family of first lady Agathe Habyarimana, known as the akazu, were the principal winners in this fight.^[54] The family had a more respected lineage than that of the president, having ruled one of the independent states near Gisenyi in the nineteenth century.^[55] Habyarimana therefore relied on them in controlling the population of the north west.^[55] The akazu exploited this to their advantage, with Habyarimana increasingly unable to rule without them.^[55] The economic crisis forced Habyarimana to heavily reduce the national budget, which led to civil unrest and an escalating political crisis.^[56] On the advice of French president François Mitterrand, Habyarimana declared a commitment to multi-party politics but took no action to bring this about.^[57] Student protests followed and by late 1990 the country was in crisis.^[57]

Formation of the RPF and preparation for war

The organisation which was to become the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) was founded in 1979 in Uganda.^[58] It was initially known as the Rwandan Refugees Welfare Association and then from 1980 as the Rwandan Alliance for National Unity (RANU).^[58] It formed in response to persecution and discrimination against the Tutsi refugees by the regime of Ugandan president Milton Obote.^[58] Obote accused the Rwandans of collaboration with his predecessor, Idi Amin, including occupying the homes and stealing the cattle of Ugandans who had fled from Amin.^[59] Meanwhile, Tutsi refugees Fred Rwigyema and Paul Kagame had joined Yoweri Museveni's rebel Front for National Salvation (FRONASA).^[60] FRONASA fought alongside Obote to defeat Amin in 1979 but withdrew from the government following Obote's disputed victory in the 1980 general election. Museveni, along with Rwigyema and Kagame, formed a new rebel army, the National Resistance Army (NRA).^[61][62] The NRA's goal was to overthrow Obote's government, in what became known as the Ugandan Bush War.^[62][63] President Obote remained hostile to the Rwandan refugees throughout his presidency and RANU was forced into exile in 1981, relocating to Nairobi, Kenya.^[64] In 1982 Ankole youths attacked the Rwandans, with the authority of Obote,^[65] causing many more to join Museveni's NRA.^[66]

In 1986 the NRA captured Kampala with a force of 14,000 soldiers, including 500 Rwandans, and formed a new government.^[67] After Museveni was inaugurated as president he appointed Kagame and Rwigyema as senior officers in the new Ugandan army.^[68][69] The experience of the Bush War inspired Rwigyema and Kagame to consider an attack against Rwanda, with the goal of allowing the refugees to return home.^[70] In addition to fulfilling their army duties, the pair began building a covert network of Rwandan Tutsi refugees within the army's ranks, intended as the nucleus for such an attack.^[70] With the pro-refugee Museveni in power, RANU was able to move back to Kampala. At its 1987 convention it renamed itself to the Rwandan Patriotic Front and it too committed to returning the refugees to Rwanda by any means possible.^[71] In 1988 a leadership crisis within the RPF prompted Fred Rwigyema to intervene in the organisation and take control, replacing Peter Bayingana as RPF president.^[72] Kagame and other senior members of Rwigyema's Rwandan entourage within the NRA also joined, with Kagame assuming the vice-presidency.^[72] Bayingana remained as the other vice-president but resented the loss of the leadership.^[72]

Rwandan President Habyarimana was aware of the increasing number of Tutsi exiles in the Ugandan army and made representations to President Museveni on the matter.^[73] At the same time many native Ugandans began criticising Museveni over his appointment of Rwandan refugees to senior positions.^[74] He therefore demoted Kagame and Rwigyema in 1989.^[73] They remained de facto senior officers but the change caused them to accelerate their plans to invade Rwanda.^[75] In 1990 a dispute in south-western Uganda between Ugandan ranch owners and squatters on their land, many of whom were Rwandans,^[76] led to a wider debate on indigeneity and eventually to the explicit labelling of all Rwandan refugees as non-citizens.^[77] Realising the precariousness of their own positions, the opportunity afforded by both the renewed drive of refugees to leave Uganda, and the precarious Rwandan domestic scene, Rwigyema and Kagame decided in mid-1990 to effect their invasion plans immediately.^[78] It is likely that President Museveni knew of the planned invasion but did not explicitly support it.^[79] In mid-1990 Museveni ordered Rwigyema to attend an officer training course at the Command and General Staff College in Fort Leavenworth, United States, and was also planning overseas deployments for other senior Rwandans in the army.^[80] This may have been a tactic to reduce the threat of an RPF invasion of Rwanda.^[80] After two days of discussion Rwigyema persuaded Museveni that following years of army duty he needed a break and was allowed to remain in Uganda.^[81] Museveni then ordered Kagame to attend instead. The RPF leadership allowed him to go, to avoid suspicion, even though it meant his missing the beginning of the war.^[82]

1990 invasion and death of Rwigyema

At 2:30 pm on 1 October 1990 fifty RPF rebels deserted their Ugandan army posts and crossed the border from Uganda into Rwanda, killing a Rwandan customs guard at the Kagitumba border post and forcing others to flee.^[83] They were followed by hundreds more rebels, dressed in the uniforms of the Ugandan national army and carrying stolen Ugandan weaponry, including machine guns, autocannons, mortars, and Soviet BM-21 multiple rocket launchers.^[83] Around 2,500 of the Ugandan army's 4,000 Rwandan soldiers took part in the invasion,^[83] accompanied by 800 civilians, including medical staff and messengers.^[84] Both President Yoweri Museveni of Uganda and President Habyarimana of Rwanda were in New York City attending the United Nations World Summit for Children.^[85] In the first few days of fighting, the RPF made significant progress, advancing 60 km (37 mi) south to the town of Gabiro.^[86] Their Rwandan Armed Forces opponents, fighting for Habyarimana's government, were numerically superior, with 5,200 soldiers, and possessed armoured cars and helicopters supplied by France, but the RPF benefitted from the element of surprise.^[86] The Ugandan government set up roadblocks across the west of Uganda, to prevent further desertions and to block the rebels from returning to Uganda.^[86]

On 2 October the RPF suffered a significant reversal, when leader Fred Rwigyema was shot in the head and killed. There is a dispute about the exact circumstances of Rwigyema's death; the official line of Kagame's government,^[87] and the version mentioned by historian Gérard Prunier in his 1995 book on the subject, was that Rwigyema was killed by a stray bullet.^[88] In his 2009 book Africa's World War, however, Prunier states that Rwigyema was killed by his subcommander Peter Bayingana, following an argument over tactics.^[89] According to this account Rwigyema was conscious of the need to move slowly and attempt to win over the Hutu in Rwanda before assaulting Kigali, whereas Bayingana and fellow subcommander Chris Bunyenyezi wished to strike hard and fast, to achieve power as soon as possible;^[89] the argument boiled over, causing Bayingana to shoot Rwigyema dead.^[89] Another senior RPF officer, Stephen Nduguta, witnessed this shooting and informed President Museveni; Museveni sent his brother Salim Saleh to investigate, and Saleh ordered Bayingana and Bunyenyezi's arrest and eventual execution.^[90]

When news of the RPF offensive broke, Habyarimana requested assistance from France in fighting the invasion.^[91] The French president's son, Jean-Christophe Mitterrand, was head of the government's Africa Cell and promised to send troops.^[91] On the night of 4 October the Rwandan government staged a fake RPF attack on Kigali with gunfire and explosions around the city,^[92] seeking to convince the French that the regime was in imminent danger.^[91] The deception worked,^[92] and 600 French soldiers arrived in Rwanda the following day, double the number initially pledged.^[91] The French operation was code-named Noroît and its official purpose was to protect French nationals.^[93] In reality the mission was to support Habyarimana's regime and the French parachute companies immediately set up positions blocking the RPF advance to the capital and Kigali International Airport.^[94] In addition to the French, Belgium and Zaire sent troops to Kigali in early October.^[95] The Belgian troops were deployed primarily to defend the country's citizens living in Rwanda but it quickly became clear that they were not in danger, whereas the perception of intervening in a controversial civil war created a domestic political storm in Brussels.^[96] The Belgians therefore withdrew their troops by the beginning of November.^[96] Zairian President Mobutu Sese Seko's contribution was to send several hundred troops of the elite Special Presidential Division (DSP).^[95] Unlike the French, the Zairian troops went straight to the front line and began fighting the RPF,^[95] but their discipline was poor.^[97] The Zairian soldiers raped Rwandan civilians in the north of the country and looted their homes,^[97] prompting Habyarimana to expel them back to Zaire within a week of their arrival.^[98]

In addition to deceiving the French, the Rwandan government used the fake attack on Kigali on 4 October as the pretext for launching a wave of anti-Tutsi propaganda.^[99] They encouraged Hutu citizens to arrest Tutsi suspected of supporting the RPF.^[99] With French assistance, and benefiting from the loss of RPF morale after Rwigyema's death, the Rwandan army enjoyed a major tactical advantage. By the end of October they had regained all the ground taken by the RPF and pushed the rebels all the way back to the Ugandan border.^[100] Many soldiers deserted; some crossed back into Uganda, while others went into hiding in the Akagera National Park.^[100] The Rwandan government announced on 30 October that the war was over.^[100]

Kagame's reorganisation of the RPF

The Virunga Mountains, the RPF base from 1990 to 1991

Paul Kagame was still in the United States at the time of the outbreak of war, attending the military training course in Fort Leavenworth.^[101] He and Rwigyema had been in frequent contact by telephone throughout his stay in Kansas, planning the final details for the October invasion.^[102] At the end of September Kagame informed the college that he was leaving the course, and was settling his affairs ready to return to Africa as the invasion began.^[101] The college allowed him to leave with several textbooks, which he later used in planning tactics for the war.^[101] When Kagame learned of Rwigyema's death on 5 October, he departed immediately to take command of the RPF troops.^[103] He flew through London and Addis Ababa, eventually arriving at Entebbe Airport, where he was given safe passage by a friend in the Ugandan secret service;^[104] the police considered arresting him but with Museveni out of the country, and no specific orders, they allowed him to pass.^[105] Ugandan associates drove Kagame to the border and he crossed into Rwanda early on 15 October.^[105]

The RPF were in disarray by the time Kagame arrived, with troop morale very low.^[105] He later described his arrival as one of the worst experiences of his life, with the troops lacking organisation following Rwigyema's death and demoralised after their losses in the war.^[105] Kagame was well known to the RPF troops, many of whom had fought with him in the Ugandan army, and they welcomed his arrival in the field.^[106] He spent the following weeks with the senior officers gathering intelligence.^[107] By the end of October, with the RPF forced back to the Ugandan border, Kagame decided it was futile to continue fighting.^[107] He therefore withdrew most of the army from north-eastern Rwanda, moving them to the Virunga mountains.^[107] Some soldiers remained behind as a decoy to carry out small-scale attacks on the Rwandan army, who remained unaware of the RPF's relocation.^[108] Kagame knew that the rugged high altitude terrain of the Virungas offered considerable protection from attacks, even if the RPF were discovered there.^[109] The trek west took almost a week and the soldiers crossed the border into Uganda several times, with the permission of President Museveni, taking advantage of personal friendships between the RPF soldiers and their ex-colleagues in the Ugandan army.^[108]

Conditions in the Virungas were very harsh for the RPF. At an altitude of almost 5,000 metres (16,000 ft),^[110] there was no ready availability of food or supplies and, lacking warm clothing, several soldiers froze to death or lost limbs in the high-altitude cold climate.^[108][110] Kagame spent the next two months reorganising the army, without carrying out any military operations.^[110] Alexis Kanyarengwe, a Hutu colonel who had worked with Habyarimana but had fallen out with him and gone into exile, joined the RPF and was appointed chairman of the organisation;^[110] the appointment of Kanyarengwe was motivated by a desire to appear inclusive, but most of the other senior recruits at the time were Ugandan-based Tutsi.^[110] The intake of recruitments grew steadily, with volunteers coming from the exile communities in Burundi, Zaire and other countries.^[111] Kagame maintained tight discipline in his army, enforcing a regimented training routine, as well as a large set of rules for soldier conduct.^[112] Soldiers were expected to pay for goods purchased in the community, refrain from alcohol and drugs, and to establish a good reputation for the RPF amongst the local population.^[113] Certain offences such as murder, rape, and desertion, were punishable by death.^[112]

The RPF carried out a major fundraising programme, spearheaded by financial commissioner Aloisia Inyumba from an office in Kampala.^[110] They received donations from Tutsi exiles around the world,^[113] as well as from some businessmen within Rwanda who had fallen out with the government.^[114] The sums involved were not enormous but, with tight financial discipline and a leadership willing to lead frugal lives, the RPF was able to grow its operational capability.^[115] It obtained its weapons and ammunition from a variety of sources, including the open market, taking advantage of an excess of redundant weaponry at the end of the Cold War.^[115] It is likely they also received weaponry from officers in the Ugandan army; according to Gérard Prunier, Ugandans who had fought with Kagame in the Bush War remained loyal to him and passed weaponry to the RPF in a clandestine manner.^[116] Museveni likely knew of this but was able to claim ignorance when dealing with the international community.^[116] Museveni later said that "faced with [a] fait accompli situation by our Rwandan brothers," Uganda went "to help the RPF, materially, so that they are not defeated because that would have been detrimental to the Tutsi people of Rwanda and would not have been good for Uganda's stability."^[117]

Attack on Ruhengeri, January 1991

The town of Ruhengeri, with the Virunga Mountains in the background

After three months of regrouping, Kagame decided in January 1991 that the RPF was ready to fight again.^[118] The target for the first attack was to be the northern city of Ruhengeri,^[118] south of the Virunga mountains.^[119] The city was the best choice from a practical point of view, being the only provincial capital that could be attacked quickly from the Virungas while maintaining an element of surprise.^[116] Kagame also favoured an attack on Ruhengeri for cultural reasons. President Habyarimana, as well as his wife and her powerful family, came from the north west of Rwanda and most Rwandans regarded the region as the heartland of the regime.^[116] An attack there guaranteed that the population would become aware of the RPF's presence and Kagame hoped this would destabilise the government.^[120]

During the night of 22 January, seven hundred RPF fighters descended from the mountains into hidden locations around the city; they were assisted by RPF sympathisers residing in the area.^[120] On the morning of 23 January they attacked.^[121] The Rwandan forces in the area were taken by surprise and were mostly unable to defend against the invasion,^[120] although the Rwandan police and army did succeed for a while in repelling the invasion in some areas, killing a number of rebel fighters in the process.^[120] It is likely the Rwandan army forces were assisted by French troops, as the French government later rewarded around fifteen French paratroopers for having taken part in the rearguard.^[120] By noon, however, the defending forces were defeated and the RPF held the whole city.^[122]

One of the principal RPF targets in Ruhengeri was the prison, which was Rwanda's largest.^[116] When he learned of the invasion the warden, Charles Uwihoreye, telephoned the government in Kigali to request instructions.^[121] He spoke to Colonel Elie Sagatwa, one of the akazu, who ordered him to kill every inmate in the prison to avoid escape and defections during the fighting.^[120] He also wanted to prevent high-profile political prisoners and former insiders from sharing secret information with the RPF.^[116] Uwihoreye refused to obey, even after Sagatwa called him and repeated the order, having confirmed it with the president.^[120] Eventually the RPF stormed the buildings and the prisoners were liberated.^[122] Several prisoners were recruited into the RPF, including Théoneste Lizinde, a former close ally of President Habyarimana, who had been arrested following a failed coup attempt in 1980.^[122][116]

The RPF forces held Ruhengeri through the afternoon of 23 January, before withdrawing back into the mountains for the night.^[122] The Rwandan government sent troops to the city the following day and a state of emergency was declared, with strict curfews in Ruhengeri and the surrounding area.^[122] The RPF raided the city almost every night for several months, fighting with the Rwandan army forces, and the country was back at war for the first time since the October invasion.^[122]

Guerrilla war, 1991–1992

Following the action in Ruhengeri the RPF began to carry out a classic hit-and-run style guerrilla war.^[123] The Rwandan army massed troops across the north of the country, occupying key positions and shelling RPF hideouts in the Virunga mountains.^[124] However, the mountainous terrain prevented them from launching an all-out assault.^[124] Paul Kagame's troops attacked the Rwandan army forces repeatedly and frequently, keen to ensure that the diplomatic and psychological effect of the RPF's resurgence was not lost.^[125] Kagame employed tactics such as attacking simultaneously in up to ten locations across the north of the country, to prevent his opponents from concentrating their force in any one place.^[125] This low intensity war continued for many months, both sides launching successful attacks on the other, and neither able to gain the upper hand in the war.^[125] The RPF made some territorial gains including capturing the border town of Gatuna.^[123] This was significant as it blocked Rwanda's access to the port of Mombasa via the Northern Corridor, forcing all trade to go through Tanzania via the longer and costlier Central Corridor.^[123] By late 1991 the RPF controlled 5% of Rwanda, setting up its new headquarters in an abandoned tea factory close to Mulindi, Byumba province.^[126] Many Hutu civilians residing in areas captured by the RPF fled to government-held areas, creating a large population of internally displaced persons in the country.^[127]

The renewed warfare had two effects on the domestic situation in Rwanda itself. The first was a resurgence of violence against Tutsi still residing in the country. Hutu activists killed up to 1,000 Tutsi in attacks authorised by local officials, starting with the slaughter of 30–60 Bagogwe Tutsi pastoralists near Kinigi and then moving south and west to Ruhengeri and Gisenyi.^[128] These attacks continued until June 1991, when the government introduced measures to allow potential victims to move to safer areas such as Kigali.^[128] The akazu also began a major propaganda campaign, broadcasting and publishing material designed to persuade the Hutu population that the Tutsi were a separate and alien people, non-Christians seeking to re-establish the old Rwandan feudal monarchy with the final goal of enslaving the Hutu.^[129] This included the Hutu Ten Commandments, a set of "rules" published in the Kangura magazine, mandating Hutu supremacy in all aspects of Rwandan life.^[129] In response the RPF opened its own propaganda radio station, Radio Muhabura, which broadcast from Uganda into Rwanda. This was never hugely popular but gained listenership through 1992 and 1993.^[130]

The second development was that President Habyarimana announced that he was introducing multi-party politics into the country, following intense pressure from the international community, including his most loyal ally France.^[129] Habyarimana had originally promised this in mid-1990 and a number of opposition groups had formed in the months since, including the Republican Democratic Movement (MDR), Social Democratic Party (PSD) and the Liberal Party (PL),^[131] but the one-party state law had remained in place.^[132] In mid-1991 Habyarimana officially allowed multi-party politics to begin, a change which saw a plethora of additional new parties come into existence.^[132] Many had manifestos which favoured full democracy and rapprochement with the RPF,^[129] but in reality were quite ineffective and had no political influence.^[132] The older opposition groups registered themselves as official parties and the country was notionally moving towards a multi-party inclusive cabinet with proper representation, but progress was continually hampered by the regime. The last opposition party to form was the Coalition for the Defence of the Republic (CDR), which was more hardline Hutu than Habyarimana's own party and had close links to the akazu.^[133]

Progress remained slow through 1991 and 1992. A cabinet set up in October 1991 contained almost no opposition at all, and the administrative hierarchy across the country only recognised the authority of Habyarimana's National Republican Movement for Democracy and Development party.^[134] The regime frequently used violence as a tool to hamper reform, justifying its actions as anti-RPF security measures.^[134]

Another one-party cabinet was announced in January 1992 which prompted large scale protests in Kigali, and finally forced Habyarimana to make real concessions.^[135] He promised for the first time to negotiate with the RPF;^[135] a multiparty cabinet formed in April, still dominated by Habyarimana's party, but with opposition figures in some key positions.^[136] The opposition members of this cabinet met with the RPF, and were successful in negotiating a ceasefire. In July 1992 the rebels agreed to stop fighting, and the parties began a peace negotiation process headquartered in the Tanzanian city of Arusha.^[137]

Peace process, 1992–1993

The peace process was complicated by the fact that four distinct groups were involved, each with its own agenda. The Hutu hardliners, centred around the family of Agathe Habyarimana, were represented by the CDR as well as extremists within the president's own MRND party.^[138] They opposed the entire peace process, and were unwilling to cede any ground to either the RPF or the Tutsi, whom they continued to view as enemies.^[139] The second group was the official opposition, which excluded the CDR. They had much more democratic and conciliatory aims but were also deeply suspicious of the RPF, whom they saw as trying to upset the "democratic" policy of Hutu rule established in the 1959 revolution.^[140] The third group was the RPF. Paul Kagame engaged with the peace process against the advice of some of his senior officers, in the knowledge that many of those on the other side of the table were hardliners who were not sincerely interested in negotiations. He feared that shunning the opportunity for peace would weaken the RPF politically and lose them international goodwill.^[129] Finally there was the group representing President Habyarimana himself, who sought primarily to hold on to his power in whatever form he could. This meant publicly striving for a middle ground compromise solution, but privately obstructing the process and trying to delay change to the status quo for as long as possible.^[138] Habyarimana recognised the danger posed to him by the radical Hutu faction and attempted in mid-1992 to remove them from senior army positions. This effort was only partially successful; akazu affiliates Augustin Ndindiliyimana and Théoneste Bagosora remained in influential posts, providing them with a link to power.^[141]

The delegates at the negotiations in Arusha made some progress through the latter half of 1992, despite wrangling between Habyarimana and hardline members of his party that compromised the government officials' negotiating power.^[142] In August the parties agreed a "pluralistic transitional government", which would include the RPF.^[142] The CDR and hardline faction of the MRND reacted violently to this. Feeling sidelined by the developing Arusha process,^[143] they began killing Tutsi civilians in the Kibuye area; 85 were killed in total, with 500 homes burned.^[142] Historian Gérard Prunier names late 1992 as the time when the idea of a genocidal "final solution" to kill every Tutsi in Rwanda was first mooted.^[144] Hardliners were busy setting up parallel institutions within the official organs of state, including the army, from which they hoped to effect a move away from the more conciliatory tone adopted by Habyarimana and the moderate opposition.^[144] Their goal was to take over from Habyarimana's government as the perceived source of power in the country amongst the Hutu masses, to maintain the line that the RPF and Tutsi more generally were a threat to Hutu freedoms, and to find a way to thwart any agreement negotiated in Arusha.^[145]

The situation deteriorated in early 1993 when the teams in Arusha signed a full power sharing agreement, dividing government positions between the MRND, RPF and other major opposition parties, but excluding the CDR.^[146] This government was supposed to rule the country under a transitional constitution until free and fair elections could be held.^[146] The agreement was reasonably equitable given the balance of power at the time, and Habyarimana, the mainstream opposition, and the RPF all accepted it. But the CDR and hardline MRND officers were violently opposed.^[146] MRND national secretary Mathieu Ngirumpatse announced that the party would not respect the agreement, contradicting both the president and the party's negotiators in Arusha.^[146] The MRND hardliners organised demonstrations across the country and mobilised their supporters within the army and populace to begin a much larger scale killing spree than those that had previously occurred.^[147] The violence engulfed the whole north west of Rwanda and lasted for six days, with numerous houses burned and hundreds of Tutsi killed.^[147][148] Paul Kagame, reacting to stories brought to him first hand by survivors seeking refuge in rebel territory,^[148] announced that he was pulling out of the Arusha process and resuming the war, ending the six-month ceasefire.^[147]

RPF offensive, February 1993

The partition of Rwanda following the RPF offensive in February 1993.^[149] For the first time, the Rwandan government acknowledged that it had lost part of the country.^[150]

The RPF went back on the offensive on 8 February, fighting south from the territory it already held in Rwanda's northern border regions.^[147] In contrast to the October 1990 and 1991–1992 campaigns, the RPF advance in 1993 was met by weak resistance from the Rwandan army forces.^[147] The likely reason was a significant deterioration in morale and military experience within the government forces.^[147] The impact of the long running war on the economy, and a heavy devaluation of the Rwandan franc compared to the United States dollar,^[151] had left the government unable to pay its soldiers in a timely manner.^[147] The armed forces had also expanded rapidly, at one point growing from less than 10,000 troops to almost 30,000 in one year.^[152] The new recruits were often poorly disciplined and not battle ready,^[152] with a tendency to get drunk and carry out abuse and rapes of civilians.^[147]

The RPF advance continued unchecked through February, its forces moving steadily south and gaining territory without opposition.^[153] They took Ruhengeri on the first day of fighting,^[153] and later the city of Byumba. As with the previous RPF advances, local Hutu civilians fled en masse from the areas the RPF were taking, back into the government-controlled territory.^[153] These exoduses were likely primarily driven by the fear of the RPF established through years of propaganda,^[153] and was somewhat justified as RPF soldiers had carried out small-scale killing of Hutu civilians in the areas under their control. Prunier attributes this to a combination of retribution for the massacre of Tutsi perpetrated in these areas in late January, as well as some indiscriminate killing.^[153] This RPF violence increased the fear felt by the Hutu population, but also served to further alienate the rebels from their potential allies in the democratic Rwandan opposition parties.^[154]

The RPF advance caused panic in France, which had long supported the Habyarimana regime. Several hundred French troops were immediately dispatched to Rwanda, along with arms and ammunition, to bolster the Rwandan army forces.^[154] The arrival of French troops in Kigali significantly changed the military situation on the ground. The RPF now found themselves under attack, with French shells bombarding them as they advanced southwards.^[155]

By 20 February the RPF had advanced to within 30 km (19 mi) of the capital, Kigali,^[156] and many observers believed an assault on the city was imminent.^[153] The assault did not happen, however, and the RPF instead declared a ceasefire.^[156] Whether or not the RPF actually intended to advance on the capital is unknown. Kagame later stated that his aim at this point was to inflict as much damage as possible on Rwandan army forces, capture their weapons, and gain ground slowly, but not to attack the capital or seek to end the war with an outright RPF victory.^[148] Kagame later told journalist and author Stephen Kinzer that such a victory would have ended international goodwill towards the RPF and led to charges that the war had simply been a bid to replace the Hutu state with a Tutsi one.^[148] However, the increased presence of French troops on the ground and the fierce loyalty of the Hutu population to the government meant that an invasion of Kigali would not have been achieved with the same ease that the RPF had conquered the north. Fighting for the capital would have been a much more difficult and dangerous operation.^[157] Several of Kagame's senior officers urged him to go for outright victory but he overruled them.^[155] By the end of the February war over one million civilians, mostly Hutu, had left their homes in the country's largest exodus to date.^[155]

Arusha Accords and rise of Hutu Power, 1993–1994

The Arusha International Conference Centre, venue for peace talks to end the war

The RPF ceasefire was followed by two days of negotiations in the Ugandan capital Kampala, attended by RPF leader Paul Kagame, and involving President Museveni and representatives of European nations.^[150] The Europeans insisted that RPF forces withdraw to the zone they had held before the February offensive. Kagame responded that he would only agree to this if the Rwandan army were forbidden from re-entering the newly conquered territory.^[150] Following a threat by Kagame to resume fighting and potentially take even more territory, the two sides reached a compromise deal. This entailed the RPF withdrawing to its pre-February territory, but also mandated the setting up of a de-militarised zone between the RPF area and the rest of the country.^[150] The deal was significant because it marked a formal concession by Habyarimana's regime of the northern zone to the rebels, recognising the RPF hold on that territory.^[150] There were many within the RPF senior command who felt that Kagame had ceded too much, because the deal meant not only withdrawal to the pre-February boundaries, but also a promise not to encroach on the de-militarised zone. This therefore ended RPF ambitions of capturing more territory.^[150] Kagame used the authority he had accumulated through his successful leadership of the RPF to override these concerns, and the parties returned once more to the negotiating table in Arusha.^[158]

Despite the agreement and ongoing negotiations President Habyarimana, supported by the French government,^[157] spent the subsequent months forging a "common front" against the RPF.^[159] This included members of his own party and the CDR and also factions from each of the other opposition parties in the power sharing coalition.^[159] At the same time other members of the same parties issued a statement, in conjunction with the RPF, in which they condemned French involvement in the country and called for the Arusha process to be respected in full.^[159] The hardline factions within the parties became known as Hutu Power, a movement which transcended party politics.^[160] Apart from the CDR there was no party that was exclusively part of the Power movement.^[161] Instead almost every party was split into "moderate" and "Power" wings, with members of both camps claiming to represent the legitimate leadership of that party.^[161] Even the ruling party contained a Power wing, consisting of those who opposed Habyarimana's intention to sign a peace deal.^[162] Several radical youth militia groups emerged, attached to the Power wings of the parties; these included the Interahamwe, which was attached to the ruling party,^[163] and the CDR's Impuzamugambi.^[164] The youth militia began actively carrying out massacres across the country.^[165] The army trained the militias, sometimes in conjunction with the French, who were unaware of the fact that the training they provided was being used to perpetrate the mass killings.^[164]

By June President Habyarimana had come to view Hutu Power, rather than the mainstream opposition, as the biggest threat to his leadership.^[166] This led him to change tactics and engage fully with the Arusha peace process, giving it the impetus it needed to draw to a completion.^[166] According to Prunier this support was more symbolic than genuine. Habyarimana believed that he could maintain power more easily through a combination of limited concessions to the opposition and RPF than he could if Hutu Power were allowed to disrupt the peace process.^[166] The RPF enjoyed much greater leverage following their successful February campaign and the government eventually agreed to their power-sharing demands.^[167] The RPF were allocated up to 40% of the troops in the proposed unified national armed forces and 50% of the officer corps.^[167] The deal would lead to large-scale demobilisation, however. Of the 35,000 Rwandan army and 20,000 RPF soldiers at the time of the accords, only 19,000 would be drafted into the new national army.^[1] With all details agreed the Arusha Accords were finally signed on 4 August 1993 at a formal ceremony attended by President Habyarimana as well as heads of state from neighbouring countries.^[168]

An uneasy peace was once again entered into, which would last until 7 April of the following year. The agreement called for a United Nations peacekeeping force; this was titled the United Nations Assistance Mission for Rwanda (UNAMIR), and was in place in Rwanda by October 1993^[169] under the command of Canadian general Roméo Dallaire.^[170] Another stipulation of the agreement was that the RPF would station a number of diplomats in Kigali at the Conseil national de développement (CND), now known as the Chamber of Deputies, Rwanda's parliament building.^[171] These men were protected by 600–1,000 RPF soldiers, who arrived in Kigali through UNAMIR's Operation Clean Corridor in December 1993.^[171] Meanwhile, the Hutu Power wings of the various parties were actively beginning plans for a genocide.^[172] The President of Burundi, Melchior Ndadaye, who had been elected in June as the country's first ever Hutu president, was assassinated by extremist Tutsi army officers in October 1993.^[173] The assassination caused shockwaves, reinforcing the notion among Hutus that the Tutsi were their enemy and could not be trusted.^[172] The CDR and the Power wings of the other parties realised they could use this situation to their advantage.^[172] The idea of a "final solution", which had first been suggested in 1992 but had remained a fringe viewpoint, was now top of their agenda.^[172]

Military operations during the 1994 genocide

Map showing the advance of the RPF during the Rwandan genocide of 1994.^[174]

The cease-fire ended abruptly on 6 April 1994 when President Habyarimana's plane was shot down near Kigali Airport, killing both Habyarimana and the new President of Burundi, Cyprien Ntaryamira.^[175][176] The pair were returning home from a regional summit in Dar es Salaam at which the leaders of Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania, had urged Habyarimana to stop delaying the implementation of the Arusha accords.^[177] The attackers remain unknown. Prunier, in his book written shortly after the incident, concluded that it was most likely a coup carried out by extreme Hutu members of Habyarimana's government.^[178] This theory was disputed in 2006 by French judge Jean-Louis Bruguière and in 2008 by Spanish judge Fernando Andreu.^[179] Both alleged that Kagame and the RPF were responsible.^[180] At the end of 2010 the French government ordered a more thorough judicial inquiry, which employed ballistics experts. This report reaffirmed the initial theory that Hutu extremists assassinated Habyarimana.^[181]

The shooting down of the plane served as the catalyst for the Rwandan genocide, which began within a few hours. A crisis committee was formed by the military, headed by Colonel Théoneste Bagosora, which refused to recognise Prime Minister Agathe Uwilingiyimana as leader, even though she was legally next in the line of political succession.^[182] UN commander General Dallaire labelled this a coup and insisted that Uwilingiyimana be placed in charge,^[183] but Bagosora refused.^[182] Uwilingiyimana and her husband were killed by the Presidential Guard during the night, along with ten Belgian soldiers charged with her protection^[184] and other promiment moderate politicians and journalists.^[185][186] The crisis committee appointed an interim government, still effectively controlled by Bagosora,^[187] which began ordering the systematic killing of huge numbers of Tutsi, as well as some politically moderate Hutu, through well-planned attacks.^[188] Over the course of approximately 100 days between 500,000 and 1,000,000 were killed.^[189][188]

On 7 April, as the genocide started, RPF commander Paul Kagame warned the interim government and the United Nations peacekeepers that he would resume the civil war if the killing did not stop.^[190] The next day Rwandan army forces attacked the national parliament building from several directions but RPF troops stationed there successfully fought back.^[191] The RPF then crossed the demilitarised zone from their territory in the north and began an attack on three fronts, leaving their opponents unsure of their true intentions or whether an assault on Kigali was imminent.^[192] Kagame refused to talk to the interim government, believing that it was just a cover for Bagosora's rule and not committed to ending the genocide.^[187] Over the next few days the RPF moved steadily south through the eastern part of the country, capturing Gabiro and large areas of the countryside to the north and east of Kigali.^[193] Their unit stationed in Kigali was isolated from the rest of their forces but a unit of young soldiers successfully traversed government-held territory to link up with them.^[193] They avoided attacking Kigali or Byumba at this stage but conducted manoeuvres designed to encircle the cities and cut off supply routes.^[194] The RPF also allowed Tutsi refugees from Uganda to settle behind the front line in the RPF controlled areas.^[194]

Throughout April there were numerous attempts by the United Nations forces to establish a ceasefire but Kagame insisted each time that the RPF would not stop fighting unless the killings stopped.^[195] In late April the RPF secured the whole of the Tanzanian border area and began to move west from Kibungo, to the south of Kigali.^[196] They encountered little resistance except around Kigali and Ruhengeri.^[187] By 16 May they had cut the road between Kigali and Gitarama, the temporary home of the interim government, and by 13 June had taken Gitarama itself. The taking of Gitarama followed an unsuccessful attempt by the Rwandan army forces to reopen the road. The interim government was forced to relocate to Gisenyi in the far north west.^[197] As well as fighting the war Kagame recruited heavily at this time to expand the RPF. The new recruits included Tutsi survivors of the genocide and Rwandan Tutsi refugees who had been living in Burundi but they were less well trained and disciplined than the earlier recruits.^[198]

In late June 1994 France launched Opération Turquoise, a UN-mandated mission to create safe humanitarian areas for displaced persons, refugees, and civilians in danger.^[199] From bases in the Zairian cities of Goma and Bukavu, the French entered south-western Rwanda and established the Turquoise zone, within the Cyangugu–Kibuye–Gikongoro triangle, an area occupying approximately a fifth of Rwanda.^[199] Radio France International estimates that Turquoise saved around 15,000 lives,^[200] but with the genocide coming to an end and the RPF's ascendancy, many Rwandans interpreted Turquoise as a mission to protect Hutu from the RPF, including some who had participated in the genocide.^[201] The French remained hostile to the RPF and their presence temporarily stalled the RPF's advance in the south west of the country.^[202] Opération Turquoise remained in Rwanda until 21 August 1994.^[203]

Having completed the encirclement of Kigali, the RPF spent the latter half of June fighting for the capital itself.^[204] The Rwandan army forces had superior manpower and weapons but the RPF steadily gained territory as well as conducting raids to rescue civilians from behind enemy lines.^[204] According to Dallaire, this success was due to Kagame's being a "master of psychological warfare";^[204] he exploited the fact that the Rwandan army were concentrating on the genocide rather than the fight for Kigali and capitalised on the government's loss of morale as it lost territory.^[204] The RPF finally defeated the Rwandan army in Kigali on 4 July^[205] and on 18 July took Gisenyi and the rest of the north west, forcing the interim government into Zaire. This RPF victory ended the genocide as well as the civil war.^[206] At the end of July 1994 Kagame's forces held the whole of Rwanda except for the Turquoise zone in the south west.^[207] The date of the fall of Kigali, 4 July, was later designated Liberation Day by the RPF and is commemorated as a public holiday in Rwanda.^[208]

The UN peacekeeping force, UNAMIR, was in Rwanda during the genocide but its Chapter VI mandate rendered it powerless to intervene militarily.^[209] Efforts by General Dallaire to broker peace were unsuccessful,^[210] and most of UNAMIR's Rwandan staff were killed in the early days of the genocide, severely limiting its ability to operate.^[190] Its most significant contribution was to provide refuge for thousands of Tutsi and moderate Hutu at its headquarters in Amahoro Stadium, as well as other secure UN sites,^[211] and to assist with the evacuation of foreign nationals. The Belgian government, which had been one of the largest troop contributors to UNAMIR,^[212] pulled out in mid-April following the deaths of its ten soldiers protecting Prime Minister Uwilingiliyimana.^[213] In mid-May the UN finally conceded that "acts of genocide may have been committed",^[214] and agreed to reinforcement.^[215] The new soldiers did not start arriving until June,^[216] and following the end of the genocide in July its role was largely confined to maintaining security and stability, until its termination in 1996.^[199] Fifteen UN soldiers were killed in Rwanda between April and July 1994 including the ten Belgians, three Ghanaians, a Uruguayan, and Senegalese Mbaye Diagne who risked his life repeatedly to save Rwandans.^[217]

Domestic situation

The infrastructure and economy of the country suffered greatly during the genocide. Many buildings were uninhabitable and the former regime taken all currency and moveable assets when they fled the country.^[223] Human resources were also severely depleted, with over 7001400000000000000♠40% of the population having fled or been killed.^[223] Many of the remainder were traumatised: most had lost relatives, witnessed killings, or participated in the genocide.^[224] The long-term effects of war rape in Rwanda for the victims include social isolation, sexually transmitted diseases and unwanted pregnancies and babies, with some women resorting to self-induced abortions.^[225] The army, led by Paul Kagame, maintained law and order while the government began the work of rebuilding the country's institutions and infrastructure.^[226][227]

Non-governmental organisations began to move back into the country but the international community did not provide significant assistance to the new regime. Most international aid was routed to the refugee camps which had formed in Zaire following the exodus of Hutu from Rwanda.^[228] Kagame strove to portray the government as inclusive and not Tutsi dominated. He directed removal of ethnicity from citizens' national identity cards and the government began a policy of downplaying the distinctions among Hutu, Tutsi, and Twa.^[226]

During the genocide and in the months following the RPF victory, RPF soldiers killed many people they accused of participating in or supporting the genocide.^[229] Many of these soldiers were recent Tutsi recruits from within Rwanda, who had lost family or friends and sought revenge.^[229] The scale, scope, and source of ultimate responsibility of these killings is disputed. Human Rights Watch, as well as scholars such as Prunier, allege that the death toll might be as high as 100,000,^[230] and that Kagame and the RPF elite either tolerated or organised the killings.^[231] In an interview with Stephen Kinzer, Kagame acknowledged that killings had occurred but stated that they were carried out by rogue soldiers and had been impossible to control.^[232] The RPF killings gained international attention with the 1995 Kibeho massacre, in which soldiers opened fire on a camp for internally displaced persons in Butare Province.^[233] Australian soldiers serving as part of UNAMIR estimated at least 4,000 people were killed,^[234] while the Rwandan government claimed that the death toll was 338.^[235]

Paul Kagame took over the presidency from Pasteur Bizimungu in 2000 and began a large-scale national development drive, launching a programme to develop Rwanda as a middle income country by 2020.^[236][237] The country began developing strongly on key indicators, including the human development index, health care, and education. Annual growth between 2004 and 2010 averaged 7000800000000000000♠8% per year,^[238] the poverty rate reduced from 57% to 45% between 2006 and 2011,^[239] and life expectancy rose from 46.6 years in 2000^[240] to 59.7 years in 2015.^[241] A period of reconciliation began as well as the establishment of courts for trying genocide suspects. These included the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) and Gacaca, a traditional village court system reintroduced to handle the large caseloads involved.^[242]

Refugee crisis, insurgency, and Congo wars

Refugee camp in Zaire, 1994

Following the RPF victory, approximately two million Hutu fled to refugee camps in neighbouring countries, particularly Zaire, fearing RPF reprisals for the Rwandan genocide.^[243] The camps were crowded and squalid and thousands of refugees died in disease epidemics, including cholera and dysentery.^[244] They were set up by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) but were effectively controlled by the army and government of the former Hutu regime, including many leaders of the genocide,^[245] who began to rearm in a bid to return to power in Rwanda.^[246][247]

By late 1996, Hutu militants from the camps were launching regular cross-border incursions and the RPF-led Rwandan government launched a counteroffensive.^[248] Rwanda provided troops and military training^[247] to the Banyamulenge, a Tutsi group in the Zairian South Kivu province,^[249] helping them to defeat Zairian security forces. Rwandan forces, the Banyamulenge, and other Zairian Tutsi, then attacked the refugee camps, targeting the Hutu militia.^[249][247] These attacks caused hundreds of thousands of refugees to flee;^[250] many returned to Rwanda despite the presence of the RPF, while others ventured further west into Zaire.^[251] The defeated forces of the former regime continued a cross-border insurgency campaign,^[252] supported initially by the predominantly Hutu population of Rwanda's north-western provinces.^[253] By 1999 a programme of propaganda and Hutu integration into the national army succeeded in bringing the Hutu to the government side and the insurgency was defeated.^[254][255]

In addition to dismantling the refugee camps, Kagame began planning a war to remove long-time dictator President Mobutu Sese Seko.^[247] Mobutu had supported the genocidaires based in the camps and was also accused of allowing attacks on Tutsi people within Zaire.^[256] The Rwandan and Ugandan governments supported an alliance of four rebel groups headed by Laurent-Désiré Kabila, which began waging the First Congo War.^[257] The rebels quickly took control of North and South Kivu provinces and then advanced west, gaining territory from the poorly organised and demotivated Zairian army with little fighting.^[258] They controlled the whole country by May 1997.^[259] Mobutu fled into exile and the country was renamed Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).^[260] Rwanda fell out with the new Congolese regime in 1998 and Kagame supported a fresh rebellion, leading to the Second Congo War.^[261] This lasted until 2003 and caused millions of deaths and massive damage.^[260] A 2010 United Nations report accused the Rwandan army of wide scale human rights violations and crimes against humanity in the Democratic Republic of the Congo during the two Congo wars, charges denied by the Rwandan government.^[262]