The Rwandan state of the early 1990s was divided between the Hutu majority (approximately 84 percent of the population) and the Tutsi minority (approximately 14 percent). The colonial Belgian administration of 1916-1962 had formalised the Hutu-Tutsi distinction in identity cards and administrative practice. The post-independence 1962-1994 Rwandan state had been Hutu-dominated, with periodic anti-Tutsi violence in 1959, 1963, 1972, and 1990-1993.
The Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) — a primarily Tutsi guerrilla force based across the Ugandan border under Paul Kagame — had been conducting a civil war against the Hutu government since October 1990. The Arusha Accords of August 1993 had established a peace framework with power-sharing between the RPF and the Hutu government. The framework was never implemented.
The Hutu Power faction of the ruling MRND party had been organising militia groups — the Interahamwe (“those who attack together”) and the Impuzamugambi — across 1993-1994. Approximately 500,000 machetes had been imported from China across 1993, ostensibly for agricultural use.
6 April 1994
The Rwandan presidential aircraft carrying President Juvénal Habyarimana (Hutu) and Burundian President Cyprien Ntaryamira (Hutu) was shot down by two surface-to-air missiles on approach to Kigali airport at approximately 8:25 p.m. on 6 April 1994. Both presidents and all crew were killed.
The responsibility for the missile attack has been disputed for decades. The leading theories are Hutu Power hardliners (who opposed Habyarimana’s willingness to implement the Arusha Accords) and the RPF itself. The 2010-2012 French judicial investigation identified the Hutu Power faction as the most plausible perpetrators. The Rwandan government under Kagame disputes the finding.