Timeline
Timeline
9 April 1994
French Amaryllis operation to evacuate expatriates starts. The Rwandan Interim Government is set up at the request of Théoneste Bagosora, with Théodore Sindikubwabo as President, and Jean Kambanda as Prime Minister. Agathe Habyarimana and her family are evacuated to Paris. Hundreds of Tutsi are murdered at Ndera Junior Seminary school. As the Interahamwe and Presidential Guard undertake a massacre in the Pallottine Missionary Catholic Church at Gikondo, French and Belgian paratroops assist with the evacuation of European expatriates. UN observers witness the massacre of children at a church in Gikondo. The RPF launches an offensive in Byumba and Ruhengeri. Major General Paul Kagame, as the Chairman of the Military High Command, declares war against the genocidal regime in a statement read on Radio Muhabura stressing that, “it was no longer possible to continue the implementation of the Arusha Peace Agreement.”
8 April, 1994
Tutsi sheltering in Nyundo Parish are murdered. Massacres continue in Kigali and in other areas notably in the commune of Bicumbi. RPF forces advance on Mutara, Byumba, and Ruhengeri. The RPF rescues survivors in the communes of Buyoga.
7 April 1994
The genocide against the Tutsi begins. Several opposition politicians and Hutu officials opposed to the Genocide are assassinated.
6 April 1994
On return from Dar-es Salaam peace talks, President Habyarimana’s plane is shot down by missiles fired from the Kanombe military camp, a FAR stronghold.
3 April 1994
RTLM broadcasts an odd piece of news: “On 3, 4 and 5, April, temperatures will rise. On the 6th, there will be a respite, but a little something might happen. Then on the 7th and the 8th and the other days of April, you will see something”. This is the thinly veiled announcement of the genocide.
28 March 1994
Ferdinand Nahimana distributes a document originally broadcast on RTLM, calling on the population to exercise “self-defense” for a “final solution” to what he called the “Tutsi league”.
11 January 1994
Gen Dallaire sends a telegramme to the UN Headquarters providing detailed information of a brewing genocide. The UN rejectes Dallaire’s request to seize stockpiled weapons.
5 October 1993
UN Resolution 872 establishes the United Nations Assistance Mission in Rwanda (UNAMIR), comprising 2,500 peacekeepers. It is set up three months later, led by Gen Roméo Dallaire.
4 August 1993
Radio-Television Libre de Mille collines (RTLM), created in July, begins propaganda programmes against the Tutsi.
4 August 1993
Official signing of the Arusha Peace Accord.