The well-organised RPF, backed by Uganda's army, gradually seized more territory, until 4 July , when its forces marched into the capital, Kigali. Some two million Hutus - both civilians and some of those involved in the genocide - then fled across the border into the Democratic Republic of Congo, at the time called Zaire, fearing revenge attacks.
Others went to neighbouring Tanzania and Burundi. Human rights groups say RPF fighters killed thousands of Hutu civilians as they took power - and more after they went into DR Congo to pursue the Interahamwe.
The RPF denies this. In DR Congo, thousands died from cholera, while aid groups were accused of letting much of their assistance fall into the hands of the Hutu militias. The RPF, now in power in Rwanda, embraced militias fighting both the Hutu militias and the Congolese army, which was aligned with the Hutus. But the new president's reluctance to tackle Hutu militias led to a new war that dragged in six countries and led to the creation of numerous armed groups fighting for control of this mineral-rich country.
An estimated five million people died as a result of the conflict which lasted until , with some armed groups active until now in the areas near Rwanda's border. The International Criminal Court was set up in , long after the Rwandan genocide so could not put on trial those responsible.
A total of 93 people were indicted and after lengthy and expensive trials, dozens of senior officials in the former regime were convicted of genocide - all of them Hutus. Within Rwanda, community courts, known as gacaca, were created to speed up the prosecution of hundreds of thousands of genocide suspects awaiting trial. Correspondents say up to 10, people died in prison before they could be brought to justice.
For a decade until , 12, gacaca courts met once a week in villages across the country , often outdoors in a marketplace or under a tree, trying more than 1. Their aim was to achieve truth, justice and reconciliation among Rwandans as "gacaca" means to sit down and discuss an issue.
President Kagame has been hailed for transforming the tiny, devastated country he took over through policies which encouraged rapid economic growth. He has also tried to turn Rwanda into a technological hub and is very active on Twitter. But his critics say he does not tolerate dissent and several opponents have met unexplained deaths, both in the country and abroad. The genocide is obviously still a hugely sensitive issue in Rwanda, and it is illegal to talk about ethnicity.
The government says this is to prevent hate speech and more bloodshed but some say it prevents true reconciliation. Charges of stirring up ethnic hatred have been levelled against some of Mr Kagame's critics, which they say is a way of sidelining them.
He won a third term in office in the most recent election in with All photographs belong to the copyright holders as marked. A good man in Rwanda. The photographs that reunited families. Africa Today podcasts. To truly understand the Rwandan Genocide, one must move beyond the traditional binary of perpetrators and victims.
Rwandans often transcended the categories of victim, perpetrator, bystander and rescuer— acting as a rescuer at one moment and a perpetrator another. Tutsi victim testimony discusses the importance of rescuers— Hutu men and women who risked their own lives to hide and save Tutsi men, women, and children. Tusti survivors discuss a multitude of survival strategies from playing dead to negotiating and buying their safety. Furthermore, both Hutus and Tutsis were subjected to mass violence, torture, and rape during the genocide.
Yet because the victims of the Rwandan Genocide, per the UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide, were targeted for their ethnic identity solely, the victims of the genocide were Tutsis. It is important to note, however, that Hutus and some Twa were also victims of non-genocidal violence. For example, both Tutsi and Hutu women were the victims of sexual violence. Hutu propaganda, such as the Hutu Ten Commandments, portrayed Tutsi women as being sexually available.
This appealed to the Hutu desire to create an ethnically Hutu-homogenous state. Rape of Tutsi women was systematic, and after the genocide subsided, an outbreak of HIV swept throughout Rwanda. Yet Hutu women also experienced violence from both their Hutu counterparts and members of the Tutsi-led RPF that was progressing through the country trying to end the genocide.
While genocidal violence was widespread throughout the country, some regions experienced more:. In November , a Hutu uprising killed many Tutsi and caused , to seek refuge outside Rwanda. These attacks displaced thousands of Rwandans causing great insecurity and fear. This fear was used to construct all Tutsis, regardless of their affiliation with the RPF, as enemies of the state.
It was during this time that ethnic stratification was exacerbated and Hutu ideology strengthened and disseminated. The Arusha Accords was supposed to end the three-year-long civil war, integrate Tutsi exiles into Rwandan society, and democratize the Rwandan government. The warning went unheeded. In addition, the use of Belgian troops for the UN mission violated UN regulations banning colonial powers from providing troops to missions in former colonies. Once the genocide began, European powers sent troops in to pull out their citizens, but they did not provide relief for UNAMIR or assist in helping end the violence.
In several cases, there are reports of UN peacekeeping troops acting as bystanders as Hutus massacred Tutsis in churches or in the streets. Both presidents were Hutu and were killed. The assassination was blamed on the Tutsi minority and immediately resulted in the use of roadblocks throughout the country and sparked the genocide.
There have always been disagreements between the majority Hutus and minority Tutsis, but the animosity between them has grown substantially since the colonial period. The two ethnic groups are actually very similar - they speak the same language, inhabit the same areas and follow the same traditions. However, Tutsis are often taller and thinner than Hutus, with some saying their origins lie in Ethiopia.
During the genocide, the bodies of Tutsis were thrown into rivers, with their killers saying they were being sent back to Ethiopia. When the Belgian colonists arrived in , they produced identity cards classifying people according to their ethnicity. The Belgians considered the Tutsis to be superior to the Hutus.
Not surprisingly, the Tutsis welcomed this idea, and for the next 20 years they enjoyed better jobs and educational opportunities than their neighbours. Resentment among the Hutus gradually built up, culminating in a series of riots in More than 20, Tutsis were killed, and many more fled to the neighbouring countries of Burundi, Tanzania and Uganda.
When Belgium relinquished power and granted Rwanda independence in , the Hutus took their place. Over subsequent decades, the Tutsis were portrayed as the scapegoats for every crisis. This was still the case in the years before the genocide.
The economic situation worsened and the incumbent president, Juvenal Habyarimana, began losing popularity. Their aim was to overthrow Habyarimana and secure their right to return to their homeland. Habyarimana chose to exploit this threat as a way to bring dissident Hutus back to his side, and Tutsis inside Rwanda were accused of being RPF collaborators. In August , after several attacks and months of negotiation, a peace accord was signed between Habyarimana and the RPF, but it did little to stop the continued unrest.
When Habyarimana's plane was shot down at the beginning of April , it was the final nail in the coffin. Exactly who killed the president - and with him the president of Burundi and many chief members of staff - has not been established.
Whoever was behind the killing its effect was both instantaneous and catastrophic. In Kigali, the presidential guard immediately initiated a campaign of retribution.
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