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Timeline

Explore a timeline of events that occurred before, during, and after the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi.

Timeline

Explore a timeline of events that occurred before, during, and after the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi.

Months

January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
October
November
December

April 1916

Belgium replaces Germany as colonial power. This sets off racialization of social relations.
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1931

Introduction of the identity card stating Hutu, Tutsi and Twa ethnicity.
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25 July 1959

Suspicious death of King Mutara Rudahigwa in Bujumbura. “Hutu social revolution” under Belgian Catholic Church control.
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28 January 1961

Grégoire Kayibanda takes power. The “Ethnic democracy” concept becomes a foundation of the Parmehutu Party.
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1 July 1962

Independence of Rwanda.
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December 1963

Massacre of Tutsi, described as Genocide by international press, foreign witnesses and independent researchers. 200,000 Tutsi flee their country.
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July 1973

Tutsi hunted down at secondary schools, universities, and workplaces. Military coup d’état by General Juvenal Habyarimana.
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24-26 December 1987

The Rwandan Patriotic Front is formed in Kampala.
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1 October 1990

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Night Of 4 To 5 October 1990

The Rwandan armed forces (FAR) stage a fake RPF attack on Kigali. On national radio, President Habyarimana decrees a state of siege and calls for vigilance and denunciation of spies.
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December 1990

Hutu extremist monthly, Kangura, publishes the “Hutu Ten commandments”, which includes “Hutu must stop taking pity on the Tutsi”.
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22-23 January 1991

RPF launches an attack on Ruhengeri and frees prisoners. During Operation Noroit, French military forces intervene directly in combat.
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27 January 1991

In response to the RPF offensive in Ruhengeri, a wave of massacres of the Bagogwe takes place.
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10 June 1991

The Rwandan Constitution is amended and a multiparty system is launched.
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14-15 January 1992

At a meeting in Paris between RPF emissaries and the French Government, Paul Dijoud tells the RPF delegation
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3 March 1992

Comminiqué read on Radio Rwanda inciting people to kill. Over 500 Tutsi are killed in Bugesera.
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9 March 1992

RFI interviews Antonia Locatelli, an Italian witness to the massacres of Tutsi in Bugesera. That evening she is murdered by gendarmes.
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May 1992

President Habyarimana’s MRND forms the Interahamwe militia group.
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22 November 1992

Léon Mugesera, senior member of the MRND, declares in Kabaya (Gisenyi) that: “As for you, Tutsis, you cockroaches. Let me tell you that your country is Ethiopia,
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January 1993

Jean Carbonare, Chairman of an international commission of enquiry, says that he saw French instructors at the Bigogwe camp, where “truckloads of civilians were being brought.
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8 January 1993

Colonel Théoneste Bagosora, a Rwandan military officer, leaves Arusha saying : “I am returning to Kigali to prepare the Tutsi apocalypse”
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21 January 1993

Violent demonstrations by MRND and CDR, massacres against Tutsi start again. Arusha negotiations are suspended.
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8 – 20 February 1993

The RPF relaunches a military offensive. The FAR retreat. The RPF stops at Shyorongi at the entrance of Kigali.
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20 – 22 February 1993

Fresh massacres of Tutsi by CDR and MRND militias in Gisenyi, Ruhengeri, Kibuye and Byumba prefectures.
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4 August 1993

Radio-Television Libre de Mille collines (RTLM), created in July, begins propaganda programmes against the Tutsi.
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5 October 1993

UN Resolution 872 establishes the United Nations Assistance Mission in Rwanda (UNAMIR), comprising 2,500 peacekeepers
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11 January 1994

Gen Dallaire sends a telegramme to the UN Headquarters providing detailed information of a brewing genocide.
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28 March 1994

Ferdinand Nahimana distributes a document originally broadcast on RTLM, calling on the population
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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.
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14 July 1994

RPF forces capture Ruhengeri, an important bastion of the genocide regime, and liberate a few survivors.
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6-13 July 1994

RPF troops continue liberating cities and towns across the country
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5 July 1994

Radio Muhabura reports that at Kiruhura parish in Butare, RPF soldiers rescue 24 nuns, including two Belgians who were injured by the fleeing Government forces.
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4 July 1994

RPF forces liberate the cities of Kigali and Butare leading to the end of the genocide. The genocide regime flees to Zaire and orchestrates the evacuation of approximately two million Hutus.
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3 July 1994

French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe officially announces the boundaries of “Operation Turquoise” in Gikongoro, Cyangugu, and Kibuye.
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1 July 1994

RPF forces gain control over areas in Kigali, Gitarama, and Butare. Radio Muhabura reports that RPF Chairman Alexis Kanyarengwe met President Ally Hassan Mwinyi of Tanzania
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30 June 1994

Commander Marin Gillier, leading the Turquoise Omar detachment,arrives at Bisesero and finds many massacre sites there as well as 800 to 1,000 survivors.
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28 June 1994

The UN Commission on Human Rights Special Rapporteur, René Dégni-Ségui, presents his report on the humanitarian situation in Rwanda stating
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27 June 1994

Two nuns from Kibuye alert Lieutenant-Colonel Duval, the commander of a Turquoise detachment headed toward the Bisesero Hills in the commune of Gishyita,
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June 26 1994

RPF forces continue capturing territory from the fleeing Government forces. Journalist Sam Kiley informs the French soldiers of the Omar detachment, under Lieutenant Commander Marin Gillier
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25 June 1994

UNAMIR reports that it still cannot move 400 civilians across the frontlines in Kigali because of intense fighting in the city center.
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24 June 1994

More French forces move into western Rwanda through Goma and Bukavu. More than 30,000 refugees in the RPF-controlled area of Ndera, 20 kilometers east
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23 June 1994

“Operation Turquoise” launches with approximately 3,000 French and African troops deployed to provide a humanitarian safe zone in southwest Rwanda.
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22 June 1994

The French Government secures authorisation, under UN Security Council Resolution 929, to set up a “safe zone” in Rwanda for providing humanitarian
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21 June 1994

French soldiers arrive on Rwanda’s border with Zaire. The former President of the UN Security Council, Paul Keating of New Zealand, cautions the Council that France’s mission
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19 June 1994

France requests authorisation from the UN Security Council to send troops to Rwanda.
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18 June 1994

Fighting continues in Kigali in the areas still under Government troops’ control. RPF forces advance towards Butare
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17 June 1994

France announces plans to deploy troops to Rwanda as an interim peacekeeping force. UN Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali and the US Government support the plan.
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16 June 1994

RPF forces rescue about 3,000 hostages from the Sainte Famille and Saint Paul parishes after exchanging gunfire with Government troops and militias.
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15 June 1994

France declares its intention to send troops to Rwanda ostensibly to save the lives of Tutsi who are being massacred by Hutu militias and troops of the Rwandan Government
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13 June 1994

RPF forces take over Gitarama. The 30th Organization of African Unity summit opens in Tunisia with Interim Government President Sindikubwabo representing Rwanda while the RPF
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11 June 1994

Delegates at the Organization of African Unity ministerial meeting in Tunisia agree to send troops to Rwanda as a UN protection force of African nations.
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10 June 1994

Government forces and militias continue to massacre civilians. They kill Tutsi Catholic Brothers and 70 other displaced people who took refuge in the Saint Famille Catholic Church in Kigali.
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4 June 1994

For the second time, UNAMIR suspends the evacuation of civilians caught in the war zones in Kigali because its convoy came under fire the previous day.
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3 June 1994

Over 300 people are evacuated from Saint Famille Catholic Church and from the Amahoro Stadium.
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2 June 1994

Killings take place in Tumba Commune. The Interim Government in Kigali makes arrangements to purchase 40,000 hand grenades and 300,000 rounds of ammunition from Egypt
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1 June 1994

Bodies of genocide victims are found between Butamwa, Mount Kigali and the mosque in Nyamirambo.
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31 May 1994

Journalists from France, Canada, Australia and South Africa visit the areas RPF troops recently captured in Kigali. They witness the bodies of civilians killed by retreating militias and government troops.
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30 May 1994

RPF forces continue to rescue civilians from hideouts as they advance towards Gitarama town, the headquarters of the interim government. The first meeting is held between military
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29 May 1994

Government troops and militias massacre 500 Tutsi civilians and Hutu members of opposition parties in a refugee camp in Gitarama.
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28 May 1994

The chairman of the Rwandan Patriotic front says that the RPF will respect the Arusha accords but will not share power with those who committed genocide.
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27 May 1994

Two prominent government military figures renounce the Rwandan army and pledge their allegiance to the Rwandan Patriotic Front
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26 May 1994

UN Secretary General Boutros-Ghali says the refusal of most countries to send troops to Rwanda is “a failure not only for the United Nations but a Failure for the international community
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25 May 1994

The United Nations Human Rights Commission unanimously adopts a resolution stating that “acts of genocide may have occurred in Rwanda” and plans for the dispatch of a special
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24 May 1994

About 3,500 decomposing corpses of victims of the genocide have been taken from the shares of Lake of Victoria in Uganda and Buried during the past week alone.(IM)
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23 May 1994

A two-day truce is called to facilitate the visit of UN envoy lqbal Riza to Rwanda, but Government forces break the truce and shell RPF positions. The UN envoy accompanied by
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22 May 1994

RPF seizes Kigali International Airport and Kanombe military camp, extending control over the north and east of the country and opening more evacuation routes for genocide survivors.
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21 May 1994

The UN Secretary-General transfers his special representative to Rwanda, Jacques Roger Booh-Booh, from Kigali to Nairobi. He is supposed to liaise with regional leaders
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20 May 1994

Over 300 bodies are recovered from Lake Victoria in Mpigi District in Uganda. RPF forces continue to rescue survivors of the massacres in Bugesera. About 300 people,
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19 May 1994

The Interahamwe and the Presidential Guard continue massacres of civilians in Kigali. 29 people are killed in a church in a government-controlled area of Kigali.
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18 May 1994

The RPF uses its Radio Muhabura to encourage people who have been trapped in various parts of Kigali behind enemy lines to report to RPF controlled areas for rescue.
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17 May 1994

Security Council resolution 918 extends the UNAMIR mission for the protection of the people and, for that, authorizes the deployment of 5,500 peacekeepers (UNAMIR II).
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16 May 1994

At the Security Council, Minister Bicamumpaka denies the government’s role in the killings, saying that “Hundreds of thousands of Hutu were massacred by the RPF simply because they were Hutu”
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15 May 1994

The BBC reports that the most recent arrivals to a refugee camp in northern Tanzania are accusing the RPF forces of committing atrocities against women and children in the Kibungo communes.
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14 May 1994

Prime Minister Jean Kambanda visits the National University of Rwanda to thank the staff for the well-done “work” of killing Tutsi and encourages them to develop effective methods of self-defence.
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13 May 1994

86 girls in a missionary school in Gikongoro are reported to have been massacred and buried in a mass grave. The RPF forces continue to rescue people coming up from the swamps where they have been hiding.
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12 May 1994

United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Jose Ayala Lasso travels to Kigali. He utters the word “Genocide”.The President of the UN Security Council discloses
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11 May 1994

The UN Security Council debates the request by Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali that a UNAMIR force of 5,500 be sent to stop the massacres that are going on in Rwanda.
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10 May 1994

The Kenyan Government announces that it will not contribute forces to the proposed UN humanitarian assistance mission to Rwanda. A US Air Force cargo planes arrive in Mwanza, Tanzania carrying
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9 May 1994

Rwandan army chief of staff Colonel Ephrem Rwabalinda is received at the military cooperation mission in Paris by General Huchon, who says
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8 May 1994

RPF official says in an interview on Radio France International that the RPF’s main objective is to stop the ongoing genocide in Rwanda and to establish law and order in the country.
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7 May 1994

John Shattuck, the US Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, meets RPF leaders in Kampala, Uganda to deliver a message from US President Bill Clinton.
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6 May 1994

The President of the UN Security Council writes to UN Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali asking for “contingency planning with regard to the delivery
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5 May 1994

The RPF writes to the UN Security Council to condemn the genocide in Rwanda and asks it to set up a tribunal to prosecute those who committed these crimes since October 1990.
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4 May 1994

Major General Paul Kagame says in a radio interview on Voice of America (VOA) that the RPF objects to any UN intervention force because it has no meaning in the situation prevailing in Rwanda.
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3 May 1994

Radio Uganda reports that Lake Victoria is awash with the bodies of genocide victims from Rwanda. UN Under Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Hoff Hernan
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2 May 1994

In an interview on Radio France, Jean Marie Vianney Ndagijimana, the Rwandan Ambassador to France, condemns his own government for being responsible
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1 May 1994

An armed gang including members the Interahamwe militia storm an orphanage in Butare town killing 21 orphans and 13 Red Cross volunteers.
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30 April 1994

After taking control of the town of Rusumo close to the Tanzanian border, the RPF issues a statement that it is categorically opposed to the proposed UN intervention force because
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29 April 1994

The United Nations authorise the Rwandan Minister of Foreign Affairs of the genocidal government to travel to New York to the Security Council.
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28 April 1994

Christine Shelley, spokeswoman for the US State Department, refuses to use the word genocide when addressing journalists, indicating that the use of such a term has many implications.
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27 April 1994

Foreign Affairs Minister, Jérôme Bicamumpaka, and CDR representative, Jean Bosco Barayagwiza, are received in France at the Elysée and the Ministry of Defense.
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26 April 1994

Finance Minister for the Interim Government, Emmanuel Ndindabahizi, provides weapons, encouragement and Interahamwe support to Hutu civilians
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25 April 1994

The International Civil Aviation Organization board meets to discuss a Belgian request for an investigation into President Habyarimana’s plane crash.
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24 April 1994

Horrific murders are orchestrated against 30,000 Tutsi gathered at Kabuye Hill, near Ndora Commune, in Butare Prefecture. Government officials in the
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23 April 1994

In a statement broadcast on Radio Rwanda, Colonel Augustin Bizimungu declares that the massacres are a continuation of those that characterized the 1959 revolution.
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22 April 1994

The Red Cross declares that it has never seen “a human tragedy of the scale of these massacres“. More than 7,000 Tutsi are murdered at Gatwaro-Kibuye stadium.
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21 April 1994

Following Security Council Resolution 912, the UNAMIR force is reduced from 2,500 to 270. Interahamwe militia and other armed people kill 22,000 Tutsi in Gikongoro.
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20 April 1994

UN Secretary-General Bouros-Boutros Ghali speaks of “Hutu killing Tutsi and Tutsi killing Hutu” and calls for a cease-fire between the genocidaires and the RPF
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19 April 1994

Radio Rwanda broadcasts a speech by President Theodore Sindikubwabo in Butare inviting the population to “get to work”.
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18 April 1994

An estimated 50,000 Tutsi are killed in the hills of Bisesero. Another 12,000 Tutsi are killed after sheltering at the Gatwaro Stadium in Gitesi Commune in Kibuye,
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17 April 1994

The murder of Tutsi in Kibuye Prefecture begins at St. John Catholic Church. Some 21,000 people are killed over the next two days.
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16 April 1994

Thousands of Tutsi are slaughtered at Ntarama Catholic Church and in surrounding areas, by soldiers from Gako military camp and from Kigali.
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15 April 1994

The Rwandan army and Interahamwe systematically massacre 10,000 refugees who have congregated at Nyamata Catholic Church from the surrounding area.
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14 April 1994

Massacres take place in Nyarubuye parish, Kibungo. Interahamwe and soldiers kill 5000 Tutsi gathered at the church in the parish of Musha.
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13 April 1994

Killing continues in and around Kigali as well as in other prefectures. In Bicumbi Commune
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12 April 1994

More refugees arrive at Nyamata Church, which is rapidly becoming a hub for displaced Tutsi.
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11 April 1994

Belgian peacekeepers withdraw from ETO school in Kicukiro, Kigali, leaving 4000 Tutsi behind. The Interahamwe marches them to Nyanza and massacres them there.
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10 April 1994

Massacres and looting continue in Kigali. An estimated 10,000 dead bodies are taken from the streets and piled up at hospitals that are overflowing with the wounded.
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9 April 1994

French Amaryllis operation to evacuate expatriates starts. The Rwandan Interim Government is set up at the request of Théoneste Bagosora,
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8 April 1994

Tutsi sheltering in Nyundo Parish are murdered. Massacres continue in Kigali and in other areas notably in the commune of Bicumbi.
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7 April 1994

The genocide against the Tutsi begins. Several opposition politicians and Hutu officials opposed to the Genocide are assassinated
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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
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20 April 1994

Un secretary-General Bouros-Bouros Ghali speaks of "Hutu killing Tusti and Tustsi killing Hutu" and calls for a cease-fire between the genocidaires and the RPF (who are fighting to stop genocide), causing confusion as to whether this was a mere civil war or not
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