Timeline
Timeline
July 27, 1994
Jerome Bicamumpaka, Foreign Minister of the Interim Government issues a statement at the Rwandan embassy in Kinshasa, Zaire saying that his defeated forces would resort to armed struggle.
July 25, 1994
French Defense Minister Francois Leotard talks about a possible fresh military confrontation because units belonging to the former Rwandan armed forces are stationed and regrouped in Zaire with a significant amount of arms.
July 23, 1994
President Yoweri Museveni of Uganda meets the American Ambassador in Kampala and they discuss the situation in the region, including the way the international community should handle the refugee crisis in Zaire.
July 22, 1994
The Government of Tanzania officially recognizes the new Government of Rwanda and its ability to manage the whole country. General Romeo Dallaire says UNAMIR troops will replace troops in the French “Operation Turquoise” and that the UN mission would “establish a secure environment to be able to protect the people back home, so they can get the humanitarian support they need.” Sweden and Finland promise grant aid to Rwanda.
July 21, 1994
The Ministry of Interior and Communal Development informs Rwandans that all civil servants should be present at their places of work by 24 July. An outbreak of cholera is reported in the refugee camps in Goma.
July 20, 1994
In an interview on Radio Rwanda, President Pasteur Bizimungu responds to threats from members of the defeated Interim Government that committed genocide. The Defense Minister of the new Rwandan Government calls for an end of the looting observed in certain areas of the country.
July 19, 1994
The Rwandan Patriotic Front releases an official communiqué declaring the end of war and of the genocide, and announcing a new government of national unity with Pasteur Bizimungu as President, Major General Paul Kagame as Vice-President, and Faustin Twagiramungu as Prime Minister. The new government is sworn-in during a ceremony attended by Uganda’s Prime Minister George Cosmas Adyebo.
July 18, 1994
RPF forces capture Gisenyi, last bastion of the genocide regime, and liberate survivors of the massacres. The RPF declares a unilateral ceasefire. Members of the Interim Government and its military forces flee with the militia to Goma and Bukavu, Zaire. French troops take Théodore Sindikubwabo and Jean Kambanda to Zaire. President Mobutu announces that Zaire would not extradite members of the genocidal government who are reported to be in Bukavu until they have been tried by an international court. Agence France Press reports that Major General Paul Kagame asked France “not to allow soldiers from the government forces who have sought refuge in the safety zone to remain there.”
July 16, 1994
Thirteen ministers of the Interim Government take refuge in the French “safe zone.” A body suspected to be that of the late Prime Minister Agathe Uwilingiyimana is discovered in Kanombe barracks inside a dispensary room along with a body presumed to be that of her husband.
July 15, 1994
The US Government publicly declares that it no longer recognizes the Interim Government of Rwanda. Radio Rwanda is back on air and broadcasting using equipment of the RPF Radio Muhabura. Government officials report attacks against Tutsis in Goma, Zaire.