While individuals, groups, and the genocidal regime’s role during the 1994 Genocide against Tutsi is widely known, little is said about clusters of high ranking military officials and politicians who since 1992, were already orchestrating the Genocide.

In an interview with The New Times, Faustin Mafeza, Research Analyst at the Ministry of National Unity and Civic Engagement (MINUBUMWE) shed light on the clusters’ names, their members and role in the planning and execution of the Genocide.

‘Amasasu’

A January 20, 1993 letter signed by ‘Commandant Tango Mike’ was sent to president Habyarimana, informing him of the formation of the cluster named AMASASU.

Although amasasu translates to ‘bullets’ in Kinyarwanda, it was an abbreviation for Alliance des Militaires Agacés par les Séculaires Actes Sournois des Unaristes (Alliance of the Militaries Annoyed by the Secular Devious Acts of the Unarists).

‘Unarists’ referred to the members of the royalist party-UNAR (Union Nationale Rwandaise) formed in the years of the independence.

‘Tango Mike’, a pseudonym believed to have been used by Col. Théoneste Bagosora or someone very close to him, explained to Habyarimana that the aim of the cluster was to sabotage deceitful plans of UNAR supporters who had never ceased to betray Hutu people since 1959.

He added that the plan was to exterminate politicians.

Although this group was formed by high ranking military officials who were against the Arusha Peace Accords, they didn’t have a known organisational structure and their work was mainly classified.

The ICTR however, said that members of this cluster included Col. Théoneste Bagosora- the suspected leader, Lt. Col. Anatole Nsengiyumva, Maj. Aloys Ntabakuze, as well as members of the MRND who planned the genocide. 

Another witness told the ICTR that the Amasasu was handing out weapons to the militias organized by the CDR party (Coalition pour la Défense de la République), as well as to the extremists in the MRND.

Bagosora had said several days before the letter, on January 8 in Arusha, Tanzania, that: "I am going back home to prepare an apocalypse”.

Rézeau Zéro

In an open letter written in Paris, France, by one Christophe Mfizi on August 15, 1992, to President Habyarimana, he informed the latter of his decision to call it quits from the then ruling party MRND (Mouvement révolutionaire national pour le développement)

He further added that his reason was an internal cluster called "Réseau Zero” (Zero Network) of very few people who wanted to dominate the party and rule at every government level.

Mfizi said this cluster was formed by Protais Zigiranyirazo, Habyarimana’s brother in law. Other members included Col. Théoneste Bagosora, Col. Elie Sagatwa, Col. Laurent Serubuga, Lt. Col. Anatole Nsengiyumva, Seraphin Rwabukumba, and Habyarimana’s brother, Séraphin Bararengana.

Escadron de la mort

Apart from Rézeau Zéro, another cluster known as the "Escadron de la mort” (death squad) formed in 1991 is said to have been behind killings in Bugesera and Kibuye in March and August 1992.

According to an ICTR expert source, all this was done at the orders of Bagosora-who was the leader, with the intention to destabilise the country and sabotage the Arusha Peace Conference.

The former commander of the United Nations Assistance Mission for Rwanda (UNAMIR), Canadian General Roméo Dallaire also told the court that Habyarimana’s wife, Agathe Kanziga and her brothers were at the center of the "Escadron de la mort."

Dallaire, who said he first heard of the cluster in November 1993, added that according to other sources, there would have been an agreement with the government of Togo, under which Togolese officers would have come to Rwanda to carry out assassinations. 

The Escadron de la mort had a classified way of communication and they trained soldiers on strangulation and torture.

Some of the members were Col. Elie Sagatwa, Col. Pierre Célestin Rwagafirita, Col. Anatole Nsengiyumva, Maj. Aloys Ntabakuze, Capt. Pascal Simbikangwa. 

Amis de l’alliance

Another cluster called the "Amis de l’Alliance” (Friends of the Alliance) had sworn to never let Habyarimana share power with RPF-Inkotanyi. 

These, according to witnesses and researchers, were doing their best to topple the Habyarimana regime, and apparently, they were also behind his plane’s shooting in April 1994.

Its members included Col. Théoneste Bagosora, Col. Elie Sagatwa, Lt. Col. Anatole Nsengiyumva, Maj. Aloys Ntabakuze and Protais Zigiranyirazo.

Mafeza explained that members of these clusters were mostly the same, and the shared motive was to sabotage peace accords and to kill anyone who disagreed with them. 

"The members of these clusters are among those who orchestrated and perpetrated the 1994 Genocide against Tutsi,” Mafeza said.