Timeline of Key Events of Rwanda’s History up to 1994
The purpose of this timeline of Rwanda’s history is to provide the reader with an overview of the events that shaped Rwanda and gain insight into the tragic events that left their mark on it.
2000-500 B.C: Approximate time period of land occupation by the Twa, a pygmoid people of hunter-gatherers and forest-dwellers. Besides hunting, they make pottery and are skilled at basketwork
Around 1000 AD: People of agriculturists, the Hutu, emigrate from Western Africa to the Great Lakes Region and occupy parts of Rwanda. They progressively organize themselves into small states controlled by dominant clans that over time became dynastic.
Between 1000 and 1400 AD: The Tutsi, a pastoralist people, migrate from the north and settle themselves in the Great Lakes Region. They occupy the central part of Rwanda. They adopt local language and customs and, to a certain extent, intermarry with the Hutu. The number of pastoralists increases in the existing states
From 1500 to 1885: There is an increasing unification of the kingdom of Rwanda under the Tutsi Nyiginya dynasty. Hutu, Tutsi, and Twa live in harmony; identify themselves as “Banyarwanda” (Rwandan) or through their 19 clans spanning the entire Rwandan society. Hutu, Tutsi, and, Twa fight together to expand their territory and strengthen the kingdom of Rwanda militarily and administratively. At this stage, Rwandan society is likened to the European feudal system with a patron/servant pattern largely accepted and practiced at all levels of the population
1885: Berlin Conference partitions Africa among European powers, and Rwanda is allotted to the German Empire. Rwanda is under the reign of Kigeri IV Rwabugiri.
1885-1916: Germans arrive in Rwanda and establish the colonial rule
1894: Count Gustav Adolf von Götzen arrives in Rwanda. Beginning of Rwandan written history
1895: In Runcunshu, bloody struggles for succession break out between Rutalindwa, the adopted son, and Musinga, the legitimate son of King Kigeli IV Rwabugiri
1895/1896: Short-lived reign of King Mibambwe IV Rutalindwa. With Rwanda in turmoil over the succession, Germans move in from Tanganyika to claim the kingdoms of Rwanda and Burundi for the Kaiser
1896: Beginning of the reign of Yuhi V Musinga. His reign is marked by his strained, almost hostile, relationships with the new colonial power. He will have to relinquish his power in favor of his son in 1931
1900: The Missionaries of Africa of Cardinal Lavigerie, also known as the White Fathers, arrive in Rwanda and found the first Catholic mission in Save, in the south of the country.
1906: The Germans establish an administrative station in Kigali, and a prominent explorer, Richard Kandt, is appointed the first Resident
1910: Brussels conference fixes the boundaries of the German Eastern Africa, including Tanganyika, Zanzibar, and Ruanda-Urundi
1911: German Schutztruppe, assisted by Tutsi chiefs and Hutu from the south, defeat a Hutu upraising in the northern region of Ruanda, leaving considerable bitterness towards both the Tutsi and the Hutu from the south who came with them
1913-1914: The Germans introduce coffee as a cash crop and install a head tax
1916: Belgian troops attack Shangi, a location of Ruanda at the Ruanda-Congo border. They drive out the Germans and occupy both Ruanda and Urundi
1916-1962: Period of Belgian colonial rule (46 years)
1918: The Treaty of Versailles makes Ruanda a Belgian protectorate
1923/1924: Ruanda-Urundi becomes a Trust Territory under the mandate of the league of the Nations
1926: Ruanda-Urundi becomes an integral part of the Belgian-Congo colony
1926-1960: The Belgians govern Ruanda-Urundi separately using traditional Tutsi monarchs called Abami. They reform customary administration, remove Hutu chiefs now considered unfit for ruling, and give prominence to Tutsi as a class. They establish forced labor done by the Hutu but supervised by Tutsi chiefs and sub-chiefs. The Tutsi in general are favored in schools, administration, and in society
1931: King Yuhi V Musinga is forced to abdicate his power and is exiled to Kamembe, and later to Belgian Congo. His son Rudahigwa is enthroned as King Mutara III Rudahigwa
1933: Belgians organize a census in which Rwandans are put in categories as Hutu, Tutsi and Twa, in part, on the basis of the number of cattle they own. Those with ten cows or more are labeled Tutsi, while those with less than ten cows are called Hutu
1933: The White Fathers found the first Catholic newspaper, Kinyamateka (literally translated, means newspaper), which will be instrumental in spreading new ideas of democracy, majority, equality and revolution. Kinyamateka’s editor-in-chief, Mr. Grégoire Kayibanda, will become the first president of Rwanda after independence
1945/1946: Transfer of the Belgian mandate to a UN Trust Territory First UN Trusteeship Council visiting mission goes to Ruanda-Urundi and Tanganyika
1950-1959: Nine years of decisive changes. Tutsi in power advocate for independence, following the political trend in most African countries. The Belgian colonial authority shifts its support to the Hutu cause, promoting the idea that the Hutu have long been opposed by the Tutsi
1957: Publication of the document later known as “Hutu Manifesto.” For the first time, the Tutsi and publicly described as “a minority foreign race” originated from Abyssinia, or Ethiopia, that exploits the “native Rwandan Hutu.” This is the beginning of the hate ideology against the Tutsi as an ethnic group
1959: Death of King Charles Mutara III Rudahigwa in Bujumbura, Burundi. Tutsi, Hutu, and Twa loyal to traditional monarchy attempt to replace him with his brother Ndahindurwa Jean, who takes the name of King Kigeli V Ndahindurwa. Belgian paratroops from neighboring Congo, assisted by Congolese soldiers, organize and implement the removal of monarchy and orchestrate the Hutu revolution. Thousands of Tutsi are killed, their cattle slaughtered, their houses burned, and their goods looted. Survivors take refuge in churches and are spared. They are eventually sent in exile to neighboring countries (Uganda, Tanzania, Burundi, and Congo). Some Tutsi are allowed to stay in Rwanda but are grouped in barren resettlement areas (Gikongoro, Bugesera, Gashora, Rukumberi)
1960: Monarchy is abolished, and Rwanda becomes a Republic. King Kigeli V Ndahindurwa is exiled to Congo then flees to Uganda, Kenya, and eventually to the United States
1961-1965: Start of multiparty system in Rwanda. PARMEHUTU, the party of the Hutu minority, wins elections. Attempts of Tutsi rebels (nicknamed Inyenzi, or “cockroaches”) from Burundi, Congo, and Uganda to destabilize the Hutu government, followed by successive waves of killings of the Tutsi inside Rwanda. New refugees leave the country and join the Diaspora, bringing the number of the Tutsi outside Rwanda to more than half the total population of Tutsi. Author Bertrand Russell declares that such killings are akin to the systematic extermination of the Jews by the Nazis
1962: Rwanda becomes independent
1962-1994: Post-independence Rwanda is ruled by Hutu. The First and the Second Republics consolidate the Hutu Power movement and systematically remove the Tutsi from the political, military, administrative, and educational arenas. The quota system is installed in schools. Identity cards indicating ethnicity introduced by the Belgians are maintained. The Hutu government also maintains the patron/servant pattern of Rwandan society. Tutsi are considered as a caste of people who are unfit to work and who are always in search of political power. Anything should be done to prevent them from taking the power again. Efforts are made to keep those inside the country isolated from the Diaspora and to prevent the exiles from coming back to their homeland
1973-1990: President Juvenal Habyarimana takes over the power from the southern Hutu Grégoire Kayibanda, and a new wave of Tutsi refugees flee to neighboring countries. President Habyarimana switches military and economic cooperation from Belgium to France, changes the constitution and installs a one-party system of government (MRND, Mouvement National Révolutionnaire pour le Développement). He refuses access to their homeland to 80,000 refugees from Uganda in 1980. Yoweri Museveni recruits part of these refugees in his army known as NRA (National Resistance Army)
1986: Yoweri Museveni takes power in Uganda with substantial support from Rwandan elements in his army
1987: The Tutsi Diaspora organizes a party known as RPF (Rwandese Patriotic Front), and an army (RPA or Rwandese Patriotic Army) is recruited in 1988
1989: Opposition to President Juvenal Habyarimana comes into picture inside Rwanda, and a deputy, several journalists, and the editor of Kinyamateka are assassinated by the National Security Guard
1990-1994: The brew of genocide. The Tutsi rebel army know as Inkotanyi attacks the government of Kigali from Uganda and occupies a small part of the territory. The army is formed principally from families and sympathizers of the Diaspora who have had to flee massacres and upheavals that took place between 1959 and 1973. The Tutsi inside the country are caught unawares but are targeted as accomplices of the Tutsi rebels. About 5,000 Tutsi are arrested across the country and put in prison. Some of them die in prison due to harsh treatment. The Hutu government of Kigali puts in place a hate propaganda campaign through the media (National Radio and Kangura/Kanguka private journals) against the Tutsi ethnic group. The rebel army recruits Tutsi youth inside the country and organizes fundraising and sensitization meetings at their Mulindi headquarters. From now on, the brew of ethnic hatred and tribalism increases and spreads as political factions are put in place on ethnic grounds.
1990: French troops from Central African Republic, backed my Belgian and Congolese soldiers, intervene in the conflict and take sides with the Kigali government, attempting to annihilate the rebellion (sic). The rebels resort to the guerilla warfare and intensify their attacks, inflicting drastic losses on the government army and challenging the French troops. In retaliation, 1,000 Tutsi of the Bahima group are killed in the Mutara region. The government recognizes the event as “honorable community work”
1991-1993: Major events of this period include ongoing retaliation and killing of Tutsi in various regions of Rwanda (Gisenyi, Kibilira, Ruhengeri, Kibuye and Bugesera). Peace negotiations between the rebels and the government in Arusha, Tanzania. Foundation of the hard-line Hutu party known as CDR (Coalition for the Defense of the Republic). Discourse of Professor Leon Mugesera, a member of MRND, advocating the extermination of the Tutsi by the most effective way: killing them with machetes and throwing them into the Akagera River, which will take them to their homeland, Ethiopia
1993: The rebel army launches a serious attack from the north, and this time comes within earshot of Kigali. Radio Télévision Libre des Mille Collines launches its racial propaganda. Tutsi extremists in Burundi kill President Ndadaye, a Hutu, and revenge killings of Tutsi take place in northern Burundi. The Tutsi army in Burundi retaliates, and many Hutu have to flee Rwanda. These refugees spread the idea that “if you do not kill the Tutsi, they will kill you as they did the President of Burundi”
October 1993: French troops leave Rwanda and are replaced by UN Peacekeeping forces (around 1,260 soldiers). In December 1993, 600 soldiers of the Rebel Army are installed in Kigali Parliament premises as an attempt to implement the Arusha Peace Agreement
January 21, 1994: United Nations Assistance Mission for Rwanda (UNAMIR) searches an unscheduled flight of DC8 cargo plane into Kigali and finds tons of artillery and mortar ammunition. The paperwork on the plane (registration, ownership, insurance, and manifest) mentions companies in France, the United Kingdom, Belgium, Egypt and Ghana. Most of the nations on the list have troops in UNAMIR.
Arusha Agreement is at a standstill because CDR, the Hutu hard-line party, rejects the broad-based transition government, including the rebel RPF and opposition parties.
Killing of Tutsi occurs in Kigali in sight of peacekeeping forces. UN sends 1,000 more troops because of intensification of violence. The Belgian ambassador, Johan Swinnen, warns Brussels that the new hate radio RTLM is destabilizing Rwanda. The CIA reports that if hostilities resume in Rwanda, up to half a million people will die. Dallaire writes Kofi Annan, who is running the UN peacekeeping from New York, that according to Jean Pierre, an anonymous informant high up in the inner circles of the Interahamwe Rwandan government militia, Hutu extremists have been ordered to list all Tutsi in Kigali. Jean Pierre suspects that registration of Tutsi is for their extermination and offers to reveal all the arm caches in exchange of asylum for him and his family. He says that his personnel can kill up to 10,000 in 20 minutes. General Romeo Dallaire tries to persuade UN headquarters in New York to allow him to conduct arm seizures, but he is denied this right
February 1994: Members of MDR Power, a hard-line wing of the Hutu party MDR, assault leaders of this party in a meeting, killing eight. Felicien Gatabazi, the leader of the moderate Hutu party PSD, is assassinated in Kigali at the entrance of his residence. Eleven French military consultants are identified in civilian clothes in Kigali.
Martin Bucyana, the leader of the extremist Hutu party CDR, is killed in Butare, the region of Felicien Gatabazi. Dozens of people are killed in retaliation for his death. Dallaire warns UN headquarters in New York of the deteriorating situation. He recounts weapons distribution and death-squad target lists and pleads for UNAMIR military reinforcements. The U.S. State Department evaluates the security in Rwanda and issues a travel advisory (warning) for Rwanda. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the MSF (Médecins Sans Frontiers/Doctors Without Borders) stockpile medicines for a large number of casualties
March 1994: 800 UN troops from Ghana join UNAMIR
CDR changes strategies and accepts the formation of a transitional government, but the other parties reject its integration. The government forces (FAR) organize a meeting in which they plan how to exterminate the “infiltrated,” that is, the Tutsi and their Hutu sympathizers.
Many Rwandan human rights activists evacuate their families from Kigali, believing that massacres are imminent. The Kigali diplomatic community issues a joint communiqué asking for the acceptance of CDR. Boutros-Ghali, UN Secretary-General, writes the US Security Council requesting an extension of the UNAMIR mandate for six months
April 2, 1994: The Hutu extremist radio RTLM announces: “On the 3rd and 4th and 5th of April minds will be heated up, and on the 6th of April, there will be respite, yet a small thing might happen. The on the 7th and 8th of April and the other days of April you are bound to see something.” In a party organized by UNAMIR, General Bagosora, a member of MRND, states that “the Arusha Agreement offers no guarantee” and mentions the extermination of the Tutsi as a possible outcome. Booh-Booh, the UN representative in Rwanda, threatens that UN troops will pull out unless the Arusha Peace Agreement in implemented
April 6, 1994: The final trigger: Two ground-to-air missiles hit the presidential plane upon its return from Tanzania. All passengers, including President Habyarimana of Rwanda and the President of Burundi, die in the crash that takes place near the runway of Kigali International Airport. Within only one hour of the presidential plane crash, killings of Tutsi and moderate Hutu politicians from opposition parties start in Kigali. Roadblocks are systematically installed throughout Kigali city.
April 7, 1994: Mass killings of Tutsi from house to house start in Kigali while a national radio broadcast warns all Rwandans not to leave their homes until further notice. Roadblocks are installed throughout the Rwandan territory about a third mile (0.5km) apart.
UN forces look on while thousands of Tutsi are being slaughtered because intervening can “breach their monitoring mandate.” The Presidential Guard take the lead in killings and assassinates Prime Minister Agathe Uwilingiyimana and ten Belgian UN peacekeepers. The hate radio RTLM spreads rumors that the Belgian troops killed President Juvenal Habyarimana. Lists of targeted persons are distributed to the militia, and genocide begins on a large scale. RTLM broadcasts that the Belgians and the RPF are both responsible for the death of President Habyarimana
April 8, 1994: The RPF launches a major offensive and declares that they will fight against anybody who hinders their progress. Telephone lines are cut all over the country. Increasing numbers of Tutsi are killed. Former speaker of the Parliament Theodore Sindikubwabo of the MRND announces the formation of the Rwandan Interim Government (RIG) and declares himself president of the republic
April 9, 1994: Interahamwe militia and Presidential Guard conduct massacres of Tutsi in Gikondo Kigali area. Evacuation of foreign officials begins. The RPF leaves its northern bases and attacks Byumba and Ruhengeri. France sends troops to Rwanda under the name of Operation Amaryllis. Belgium sends more troops under the name of Operation Silverback.
April 10 and 11, 1994: Evacuation of western foreigners continues. Nationals are denied the right to flee with foreigners leaving the country. Prisoners are put to work with refuse carts to pick up dead bodies in the streets of Kigali. US Ambassador Rawson closes US Embassy in Kigali. RPF launches the attack on Kigali City. Dallaire obtains a cease-fire with RPF. The Belgian peacekeeping forces abandon more than 2,000 people at Kicukiro Technical School, making them easy prey for the militia Interahamwe. All are massacred with machetes and other lethal weapons within minutes of their departure.
April 12, 1994: The French Embassy closes its doors. RPF forces attack Kigali. The RIG flees to Gitarama. Innocent and Canisius, friends from Butare, tell Seminega that all Tutsi will be killed on the basis of their ethnic group and regardless of their political opinions or religious beliefs.
April 13 to 16, 1994: Belgium withdraws its troops from UNAMIR. Wounded Tutsi victims are dragged from Red Cross ambulances and killed. End of Operation Amaryllis on April 16, 1994. Genocide spreads throughout the Rwandan territory with the exception of Butare, the region of Interim government president, Theodore Sindikibwabo
April 18 and 19, 1994: President Sindikibwabo visits Butare, dismissing Dr. Jean Baptiste Habyarimana, prefect of Butare, who is a Tutsi and has refused to organize killings in his area.
National Radio announces that Prefect Jean Baptiste Habyarimana has been dismissed.
President Sindikubwabo appoints Sylvain Nsabimana in his place. President Sindikubwabo gives a talk inviting the local Hutu population “to stop being onlookers and get out to work”
April 20, 1994: Some Kigali Hutu residents start to flee to the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Two Hercules aircraft land at Butare Airport. The city is surrounded by the Presidential Guard and roadblocks are installed and closely watched day and night.
April 21 to 30, 1994: Genocide begins in Butare City. Former prefect jean Baptiste Habyarimana, Professor Pierre Claver Karenzi, and Queen Rosalie Gicanda are assassinated. Tutsi are killed, and their houses are burned in the areas of Huye, Matyazo, Shyanda, Cyarwa, Ndora, Mpare, as well as in the remote areas of Malaba, Muganza, Nyakizu, and Runyinya.
A genocide survivor from Butare witnesses Butare authorities standing before a hotel in Butare and watching emotionlessly while Tutsi are arrested, taken on trucks and pickups, and slain with clubs and machetes. Key authorities include a newly appointed authority of Butare, the high authority of the city, one of the high authorities at the National University of Rwanda, a well-known tradesman of Butare, and high officials of Huye, Shyanda, Mbazi, Ndora, and Muganza communes.
UN Security Council reduces the number of UNAMIR forces from 2,500 to 270 as a reaction to the murder of ten Belgian UN peacekeeping forces.
The Interahamwe take the UN decision as a “go-ahead sign” for their killings of the Tutsi.
The Tutsi population are desperate and feel betrayed in their hope and promises of security.
RTLM requests that the Belgian troops be replaced by French troops.
Red Cross authorities declare that they have never seen “a human tragedy with such an extent of massacres before.” They make it clear that civil war and genocide are two different things.
Doctors Without Borders (MSF) withdraws its medical teams from Butare.
OXFAM emergencies officer Maurice Herson telephones OXFAM headquarters to say that genocide of the Tutsi is being done in Rwanda and later issues a press release stating that killing in Rwanda amounts to “genocide.” The French newspaper Le Monde published statements by an MSF eyewitness that “anyone suspected of being a Tutsi is killed.” Boutros-Ghali declares that in his opinion, in Rwanda Hutu are killing Tutsi and Tutsi are killing Hutu, but he uses the tern “genocide” and advocates the idea of a new UN armed intervention. At a UN meeting, Madeleine Albright, U.S. Secretary of State, refuses to use the term “genocide.” Matignon and Elysee (France) authorities receive the Rwandan Interim Government Foreign Affairs Minister and the chairman of the Hutu Extremist party CDR, but Belgium denies them entry visas.
The RPF takes the Tanzanian border town of Rusumo
May 1 to 31, 1994: Rwandan government armed forces are defeated by the RPF and flee Rwanda to DRC with hundreds of thousands of people. The United States supports Boutros-Ghali’s proposal of a UN new intervention, but state that will take too long to be implemented and will not change what is happening. Boutros-Ghali suggests that General Dallaire’s original plan to airlift 5,500 troops to Kigali to stop genocide be followed. Rwandan Interim government representative at UN declares that “hundreds of thousands of Hutu are being killed by RPF simply because they are Hutu” and adds that the RPF soldiers eat the hearts of their victims.
In the meantime, RTLM broadcasts messages such as, “Fight the roaches (the Tutsi)”; “Crush them alive.” “Use spears, clubs, machetes, and stones.” “Cut them with anything, those enemies of democracy.” “Show them that you know how to defend yourselves.” “Encourage your soldiers.”
The RPF takes control of Kigali International Airport and the Kanombe military camp and extends control over the northern and eastern parts of the country. The government army continues to flee south before an RPF advance. The RPF overruns the presidential palace.
June 1 to June 30, 1994: Canadian relief flights are forced to stop flying. Rwandan army launches its last attack against RPF troops in the south of Rwanda (Kabyayi), but the RPF takes Kabyayi. The UNAMIR mandate is extended until December 1994 by resolution number 925. American Secretary Christopher Warren speaks of “genocide” in Rwanda. Nelson Mandela declares that: “The situation in Rwanda is a real shame for all Africa. All that has to change, and we have to act.”
The Interim government moves to Gitarama and RPF takes Gitarama. Interim government flees to Gisenyi. French president Francois Mitterrand announces French intervention in Rwanda.
The RPF declares that ‘after the death of hundreds of thousands of innocent people, the French government who is responsible now pretends to send its troops to stop the massacres. Their intention is clear: the French troops are coming to protect the assassins.’
France proposes the so-called humanitarian Zone Turquoise through the Congolese-Rwandan boarders of Bukavu and Goma. UN Security Council approves the French proposal with resolution number 929. The UN Human Rights Commission Special Rapporteur publishes a report in Geneva stating that “the massacres that occurred throughout Rwanda were a pre-planned and systematic campaign of genocide”
July 1 to 19, 1994: The U.N. Security Council sets up a commission to investigate genocide in Rwanda.
RTLM broadcasts this message: “We have to continue fighting, because if we lost the battle, we will actually be judged, while if we have the victory, nobody will judge us”
July 3, 1994: RTLM stops broadcasting from Kigali. The RPF takes the town of Butare, south of Rwanda, near the French Zone Turquoise
July 4, 1994: The RPF wins control of all Kigali
July 5, 1994: France installs the Zone Turquoise in the southwest corner of the country. The Seminega family is rescued from their hiding place by a detachment of RPF soldiers in Munazi, Butare and taken to Mbazi survivors’ camp
July 6, 1994: Canadian relief flights resume
July 7, 1994: Kigali International Airport reopens
July 9, 1994: The RPF discovers mass graves in Butare and retaliates by killing thousands
July 13 to 14, 1994: Ruhengeri city is captured by the RPF and an estimated one million people cross the border to Goma, in Zaire (now Democratic Republic of Congo or DRC)
The Clinton administration no longer recognizes the Interim government
July 16, 1994: Thirteen ministers of the Interim government take refuge in the French safe zone. The RPF takes Gisenyi, the last stronghold of Hutu Power
July 18, 1994: War comes to an end with the RPF defeating the last elements of Rwandan government troops still in Rwanda.
Former Rwandan government chief of army staff declares: “RPF will rule over a desert”
July 19, 1994: Pasteur Bizimungu becomes the first President under the Arusha Agreement of national unity. The government of national unity announces the abolition of identity cards with the mention of ethnic groups
Source: Appendix 4, Seminega, Tharcisse (2019) No Greater Love. Davenport, IA: GM&A Publishing.