The genocide perpetrated against the Tutsis in 1994 is not an event that surprised Rwanda and humanity as a whole. This genocide is the culmination of a long political process involving Rwandan and foreign actors. Belgian colonization and the Catholic Church, in particular, introduced stereotypes of categorizing Rwandans according to ethnicities that did not exist as such. Rwandans who were educated in Catholic schools and seminaries grew up with this ideological perception of their country's reality and failed to distance themselves from the logic of the colonizer to preserve the national unity and social harmony that were the heritage of our ancestors. Instead of maintaining cohesion and working for the integral development of the country, these so-called 'enlightened' Rwandans made the discrimination of Tutsi the primary goal of their politics at all levels. The creation of the political party PARMEHUTU by a group of intellectuals supported by the Catholic Church is a major event that must be considered to understand the process that led to the extermination of Tutsi in 1994. Indeed, PARMEHUTU was an inherently racist party in both its essence and practices. No Rwandan who was not Hutu could be accepted as a member of this party. Such a political line inherently contains the seeds of genocide. President Kayibanda, who was also the president of PARMEHUTU, implemented, since 1957, the date of the drafting of the founding text of PARMEHUTU, the ‘Manifeste des Bahutu,’ a policy based on hatred of Tutsi and their exclusion. In Kayibanda's politics and his party, PARMEHUTU, Tutsi as a whole became scapegoats for the misfortunes that the Hutu allegedly suffered for decades, pretending to ignore that, in the history of Rwanda, the Tutsi monarchy had never carried out ethnic or collective massacres targeting a particular group. The Rwanda that the colonizer and the missionary found had both poor and rich upon their arrival. That Rwanda did not kill. It is therefore evident that the distant responsible for the genocide committed against the Tutsi in 1994 is the one who created a policy based on hatred of the Tutsi and introduced it as a regular political line. The PARMEHUTU Party and its founders are the primary culprits. In 1963, under the pretext that a group of Tutsi exiles from Burundi had attacked Rwanda from Bugesera, President Kayibanda's regime organized new massacres against the Tutsis in the country, especially in the prefectures of Kigali, Kibungo, Gitarama, Gisenyi, Ruhengeri, and Gikongoro. Observers present in Rwanda, researchers, and missionaries signalled that these killings met the necessary conditions to constitute the crime of genocide. The international press widely covered it. Kayibanda was overthrown in 1973 following a coup staged by General Juvénal Habyarimana, a military officer from the northern part of the country. He accused Kayibanda and his party, PARMEHUTU, of having caused the division among Rwandans. Habyarimana made an enticing speech advocating for working towards the unity and development of all Rwandans. It should be noted that Habyarimana came to power in a bloodbath against the Tutsi whom Kayibanda's regime had expelled from schools and positions in state institutions and private companies. Those who survived this carnage were once again forced into exile in foreign countries. In 1975, Habyarimana founded his political party, the National Revolutionary Movement for Development (MRND), with the motto: Peace, Unity, Development. All Rwandans automatically became members of this party since it was a single party that received state funds for its operation. Despite the good intentions initially, Habyarimana quickly implemented a policy identical to that of his predecessor, Kayibanda. He established a so-called ethnic and regional balance system that enforced the limitation of Tutsi in schools and employment. He overly favoured nationals from his native region, who took the lion's share in all sectors of the country's life. Moreover, Habyarimana refused to address the issue of Tutsi refugees, the first of whom had been expelled from the country in 1959. His presidency was also characterized by a series of assassinations and repression of democrats, independent journalists, and human rights defenders. Even those who denounced corruption suffered the same fate. On October 1, 1990, the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) began an armed conflict against the regime with the clear goal of breaking away from the policy of exclusion and discrimination that had characterized Rwanda since 1959. This armed conflict became an opportunity for the regime to carry out mass arrests and systematic and widespread killings of Tutsi, especially in the northern region from which the president originated. Whenever the regime lost ground militarily against the RPF, it reacted by organizing killings of Tutsi civilians on an exclusively ethnic basis. The Arusha peace negotiations lasted three years, from 1991 to 1993, and were supported by opposition parties, namely the PSD, MDR, PL, PDC, and other smaller parties such as PDI or PSR. Before the dissolution of these parties in 1993 through Habyarimana's manoeuvres, they were convinced that the path of negotiations was the only possible way to solve the problem of war definitively. The Hutu Power movement pushed many members of opposition parties to adopt the extreme line. On the one hand, after consultations between the PSD, MDR, and PL parties with the RPF, the MRND intensified its efforts to infiltrate and divide members of these parties. On the other hand, the MRND sought to ally with other smaller parties or create new ones to show that political parties were supporting it. It was at this time that the collaboration of the MRND with the CDR, PARERWA (Republican Party of Rwanda, created on January 20, 1992), PECO (Ecological Party, founded on November 30, 1991), and PADER (Rwandan Democratic Party, founded on January 20, 1992) was publicly announced. These parties issued numerous communiqués signed by their authorities condemning the Arusha peace negotiations: On the MRND side, the communiqués were generally signed by its national president Mathieu Ngirumpatse or Amandin Rugira, who was the MRND president in Butare and, at the same time, the first vice-president at the national level; For the CDR, they were signed by Martin Bucyana, its president, Jean-Baptiste Mugimba, secretary-general Misago Antoine Rutegesha, the second vice-president, and sometimes by Elie Nyilimbibi or Théoneste Nahimana. Nahimana (originating from Gisenyi) replaced Bucyana as the president of the CDR after his death on February 23, 1993, in Butare; On the PARERWA side, most communiqués were signed by Michel Nshimiyimana, treasurer of this party; For the PADER, they were signed by Jean-Baptiste Ntagungira, secretary-general; Those of the PECO were signed by its president, Dr. Jean-Baptiste Butera. The alliance was named the 'Alliance for the Strengthening of Democracy' (ASD). These political parties forming the ASD manifested themselves in joint actions with the MRND to sabotage the Arusha negotiations, which they called a 'civil coup d'état' by opposition political parties, thus designating the RPF, PSD, PL, and MDR. In general, the high authorities of the MRND wrote several letters conveying the ideology of genocide. This party's ministers published some; others were by the party's general secretariat. There were also communiqués published by the leaders of the MRND at the prefectural level with the same ideology. The nine ministers of the MRND, namely: Dr. Casimir Bizimungu, Minister of Health; Pauline Nyiramasuhuko, Minister of Family and Women's Promotion; Augustin Ngirabatware, Minister of Planning; Prosper Mugiraneza, Minister of Public Service; André Ntagerura, Minister of Transport and Communication; Callixte Nzabonimana, Minister of Youth and Cooperative Movement; James Gasana, Minister of Defense; Daniel Mbangura, Minister of Higher Education, Scientific Research, and Culture, issued numerous communiqués opposing the Arusha peace negotiations. In the October 15, 1992 letter addressed to the Prime Minister, these ministers from the MRND contested specific clauses of the agreement protocol between the Rwandan government and the RPF on power-sharing within an expanded-base transitional government. The first was the provision stating that the President of the Republic would appoint the Prime Minister without the prerogative to dismiss him. The second was related to the establishment of the Supreme Court: MRND ministers argued that it went against the independence of the judiciary. Finally, they contested the procedure for appointing high authorities in the country, especially the Prime Minister's prerogatives to appoint high-ranking officials. On November 11, 1992, the same ministers addressed another letter to the Prime Minister in which they revisited the peace negotiations taking place in Arusha. They claimed that these negotiations favoured the interests of the MDR, PL, and PSD parties. They contested the decision made in Arusha on October 30, 1992, regarding the agreement protocol between the Rwandan government and the RPF on power-sharing within an expanded-base transitional government. They argued that this decision was contrary to the interests of the 'majority people' and the nation. It is noteworthy that the ideology of the majority people reappeared - and it is known that this expression refers to the Hutu - which is indicative of the attitude of the MRND ministers who maintained, in their conception, the policy based on the ethnic affiliation of a part of the population qualified as the majority in the country. On November 12, 1992, the MRND, PADER, CDR, PECO, and PARERWA parties issued a press release condemning the progress of the negotiations: The proposals supported by the Rwandan delegation are not always based on the recommendations of the people. This communiqué also stated that the MRND, PADER, CDR, PECO, and PARERWA parties will fight for a transitional government leading to clear and transparent elections for the people to strengthen democracy. At that time, what the MRND and its allies called the people was solely the Hutu. In the Arusha negotiations, when the Rwandan delegation led by Minister Ngulinzira agreed to sign protocols that it deemed to satisfy the interests of all Rwandans, the MRND and its allies would stand up and claim that the people's interests were violated and that Ngulinzira had betrayed the country. In 1993, the hardliner trend of political parties such as MRND, MDR, PSD, PL, PDC, CDR, and other minor parties created by the MRND built a coalition commonly known as 'Hutu Power.' This coalition was officially launched during a meeting of the MDR party on October 23, 1993, by one of its leaders, Froduald Karamira, the second vice-president of the MDR at the national level. During this meeting, extremist members of the MDR, accompanied by those of the MRND and CDR, gathered to express their outrage at the assassination of Ndadaye and draw lessons from it. The real purpose was to use the Burundian issue as another pretext to reject the Arusha Peace Agreement concluded on August 4, 1993. In his speech, Karamira vehemently attacked the RPF and, more specifically, its military leader, General Paul Kagame, whom he accused of assassinating President Ndadaye and depriving the Burundian people of their democracy. Karamira urged all Hutus in Rwanda to unite and take necessary measures, falsely claiming that Kagame had similar plans for Rwanda to thwart peace and democracy. Karamira insulted Hutus of the MDR who were in favor of the Arusha Agreement, mentioning Faustin Twagiramungu, who was the president of the MDR and prime minister designated by that agreement, the incumbent Prime Minister Agathe Uwilingiyimana, and Anastase Gasana, calling them 'Inyenzi' (cockroaches) and 'puppets of the Tutsi.' In harsh words, Karamira called on the people to 'look for the enemy among us' and 'not to sit saying that what happened in Burundi will not happen here [in Rwanda] because the enemy is among us.' Karamira incited the crowd by saying that Hutu working against Hutu solidarity were traitors who should also be considered enemies. He said, 'We have clearly stated what to avoid, avoid fighting another Hutu. We have been attacked, and we must not attack ourselves. Let's avoid the invasion of the enemy who could steal our government.' Karamira concluded his speech with now-famous violent terms: 'Hutu Power! MRND power! CDR power! MDR power! All Hutu are one power! The heated crowd repeated 'Power' after each slogan. Karamira did not act on his own initiative; he was executing a well-elaborated plan by the MRND and President Habyarimana to divide opposition political parties in order to find allies to unite against the implementation of the Peace Agreement and bury it definitively by preparing for the genocide against the Tutsi and the assassination of Hutu opposed to his oppressive regime. It should be noted that most politicians Habyarimana recruited to join the Hutu Power trend were not naive pawns; they had their own personal interests that he exploited by granting them very lucrative financial favours. This was the case for Justin Mugenzi, who allegedly received significant sums of money to pay off his bank loans and align himself with President Habyarimana's camp with his Liberal Party friends to split this party, which Habyarimana feared for its popularity as the only political party at the time that managed to bring together Hutu and Tutsi supporters, especially at its leadership level. After the creation of the Hutu Power trend within the political parties, the acceleration of the genocidal plan occurred through a general mobilization of the Hutu population, sensitized to kill their Tutsi neighbours labelled as their enemies. This information was known to the UN and Western embassies accredited to Rwanda. On November 5, 1993, Lieutenant Marc Nees, a Belgian intelligence officer within MINUAR, asserted that on that same day, President Habyarimana had led a meeting at his hotel Rebero L'Horizon during which it was decided to 'distribute grenades, machetes, and other weapons to the MRND's Interahamwe militia and the CDR's Impuzamugambi. On January 16, 1994, a demonstration, attended by many members affiliated with the Hutu Power ideology from Kigali and its surroundings, was organized at the Nyamirambo Regional Stadium. During this meeting, Justin Mugenzi, who led the Hutu Power faction of the PL party, spoke and urged caution against Tutsis and Belgian soldiers from the UNAMIR. Many weapons were distributed to Hutu Power members of the MRND, CDR, MDR, PSD, PDC, and PL parties during this meeting. This arms distribution was even confirmed on January 15, 1994, by the Belgian Ambassador in a letter addressed to the Belgian Minister of Foreign Affairs, warning that weapons continued to be distributed to the Interahamwe and proposing that UNAMIR should be able to confiscate them. This was also noted by General Dallaire, who commanded the UNAMIR troops, in a letter he addressed on January 11, 1994, to the United Nations Security Council; his letter requested authorization to confiscate these weapons, but Kofi Annan, who headed the UNAMIR service, refused. On February 25, 1994, a significant meeting of Interahamwe leaders was held under the authority of its President, Robert Kajuga. During this meeting, it was decided to warn all Interahamwe to be highly vigilant towards Tutsis, especially those in Kigali, whose lists already existed. They were also instructed to be ready to take action using firearms and other instruments. Another recommendation was to act with the Impuzamugambi of the CDR and members of the Hutu Power trend from the main political parties, MDR, PSD, and PL. This union of forces matched that of the minor parties allied with the MRND, namely the PECO (Ecologist Party), PDI (Islamic Democratic Party), PADER (Rwandan Democratic Party), RTD (Labour Rally for Democratic Development), MFBP (Women's and Popular Movement), and PPJR (Progressive Party of Rwandan Youth). On the same date, February 25, 1994, the Association of Peace Volunteers (AVP), a Rwandan human rights organization, published a declaration denouncing the existence of a plan of massacres, the incitement to hatred broadcast by RTLM, listing victims of violence orchestrated by the regime, especially in Kigali, and issuing an urgent appeal to UNAMIR to put an end to this climate of state violence. On February 27, 1994, Interahamwe leaders, along with other senior officials of the MRND, including Michel Bagaragaza, Joseph Nzirorera, Augustin Ngirabatware, Claver Mvuyekure, Pasteur Musabe, Seraphin Rwabukumba, and Robert Kajuga, met at the Rebero Hotel and decided to create and finance a force tasked with exterminating the Tutsi. On March 15, 1994, the organizers of the International Commission on Human Rights Violations in Rwanda, including Human Rights Watch, the International Federation of Human Rights Leagues, the International Centre for Human Rights and Democratic Development, and the Inter-African Union for Human Rights and Peoples, along with Amnesty International, issued a statement deploring the escalation of violence in Rwanda, arms distribution, delays in implementing the Arusha Accords, and the MRND's attempts to obtain a promise of amnesty for those involved in human rights violations committed earlier. On March 30, 1994, Colonel Tharcisse Renzaho, prefect of the city of Kigali, sent a list of people, including reservists, to be part of a so-called civilian self-defence force to the Chief of Staff of the army, Colonel Déogratias Nsabimana. However, civilian self-defence was a euphemism for the death squads of the MRND, CDR, and other Hutu Power groups to exterminate the Tutsi and kill Hutu democratic opponents. Renzaho's letter followed a broadcast by Ferdinand Nahimana on March 28, 1994, in which he called for the population's self-defence, preparing for the 'final solution' to what he called the 'Tutsi League,' which, according to him, aimed to create a 'Hima empire' in the countries that make up the Great Lakes region. The CDR (Coalition for the Defence of the Republic) deserves special mention in the mobilization for the genocide against the Tutsi. The idea of creating the CDR emerged from various meetings held at the National University of Rwanda, Nyakinama campus, between 22/10/1991 and 17/1/1992. These meetings brought together Hutu extremists from Ruhengeri and Gisenyi, who were in the public administration, united by hatred of the Tutsi. This group called itself the Circle of Progressive Republicans, led by Charles Ndereyehe Ntahontuye, originally from the former Cyabingo Commune in Ruhengeri. He led the agricultural development project in Gikongoro (PDAG). On 22/02/1992, a meeting to validate the structure of the CDR party took place at the Urugwiro Hotel in Kigali, bringing together the 10 most extremist members who proclaimed that they were creating the 'Coalition for the Defence of the Republic (CDR)' in French, in Kinyarwanda, they adopted the name “Impuzamugambi Ziharanira Repubulika.” These individuals who founded the CDR are as follows: Bucyana Martin, Nahimana Théoneste, Misago Rutegesha Antoine, Mugimba Jean Baptiste, Uwamariya Béatrice, Higiro Céléstin, Nzaramba Céléstin, Akimanizanye Emmanuel, Hitimama Athanase, and Simbizi Stanislas. These people will always be remembered for their distinguished role in the most abject malevolence, creating the extremist party that organized the genocide, claiming over a million lives between April and July 1994. The ideology of incitement to hatred against the Tutsi was notably expressed through several communiqués published in 1992 and 1993, both during and after the signing of the Arusha Accords. Here are some examples: On September 2, 1992, the CDR addressed a letter to the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, Boniface Ngulinzira, entitled: CDR Party's Requirements for its Participation in a New Transition Government Including the RPF. In this letter, the CDR demanded impossible conditions from the minister, even resorting to threats. First, it required that all accredited parties entering the transitional government commit to defending the gains of the 1959 revolution. This so-called revolution established a regime based on discrimination that led to ethnic massacres, condemning a portion of Rwandans to exile. Most members of the RPF at that time were Rwandan refugees who had been expelled from the country following that revolution. Another condition the CDR demanded from the minister was to occupy the positions of Prime Minister, Minister of Defense, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, and Minister of Primary, Secondary, and Higher Education. It added that Minister Ngulinzira would bear the consequences if its demands were unmet. On October 18, 1992, the CDR released a statement to the same minister titled: Message that the majority people have entrusted to the CDR to convey to Mr. Boniface Ngulinzira, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation. The CDR strongly criticized Minister Ngulinzira in this statement, labeling him a traitor. It menacingly informed him that the majority of people would not endorse the outcome of the peace negotiations: Mr. Minister, the majority of people regret being excluded from the negotiations you unilaterally conduct with the Inyenzi-Inkotanyi, even though the problems you discuss concern all Rwandans. ... Do you think that you alone, with the Inyenzi-Inkotanyi, will implement the agreements resulting from these negotiations? In any case, you should consider that the agreements you will conclude must be endorsed by a referendum of the entire Rwandan people before being implemented. Therefore, you must reconsider and hear the will of the majority so that these agreements do not become a dead letter. On November 9, 1992, the CDR issued another communiqué denouncing the protocol of the Arusha Accords concluded on October 30, 1992, regarding power-sharing in the broad-based transitional government: The CDR party denounces these maneuvers against democracy. It rather demands the holding of elections, allowing the people to choose their representatives. ... Fortunately, your sole commitment is not sufficient for the agreements to be enforceable because they must be previously approved by the competent bodies to preserve the interests of the majority of people. Considering all these observations, the CDR party irreversibly denounces the content of the agreements concluded on October 30, 1992, concerning power-sharing in the broad-based transitional government. It reaffirms that it will bring down the government in which it does not participate, and the RPF will be a part. The CDR party seizes this opportunity to call on other parties and all democratic militants to unite to annul the project of constituting the broad-based transitional government according to agreements that cannot be approved. On February 19, 1993, the CDR claimed that the Inkotanyi had killed 800 Hutu in the city of Ruhengeri, 2,000 in the Kidaho commune, 600 in the Nkumba commune, 500 in the Kinigi commune, and 800 in the Nyarutovu commune. The CDR continued its lies by stating that in the Kinyami commune of Byumba alone, the Inkotanyi had killed 800 Hutu. After providing these false figures, the CDR concluded that all Hutu from all political parties should mobilize to ensure their legitimate defense, meaning the massacre of Tutsis: You see that in the last 10 days, the Inyenzi-Inkotanyi have killed more than 10,000 innocent citizens. That is, 1,000 people per day. This shows that if the Hutu do not mobilize to ensure their defense, in the coming days, there will be too few Hutu left. Know that the Inyenzi-Inkotanyi kill the Hutu without distinction of parties because, for them, all Hutu are the same. Those who believe that those who are members of the MDR or the PSD will be spared are mistaken. Let the horrors that have just occurred serve as a lesson to them. As the CDR has constantly said, the majority of people must mobilize, as in 1959, if they do not want to be decimated. ... The CDR party invites politicians to realize that they come from the majority and stop the intrigues that divide the majority. This is the best way to preserve the extinction of the Hutu ethnicity. On February 20, 1993, the CDR continued this mobilization plan to commit genocide and issued a new communiqué warning the Hutu of Cyangugu and Kibuye that the Inkotanyi would also attack them. It urged them to ensure their legitimate defense: The CDR party has just learned that the Inkotanyi will deploy another expedition to Rwanda from Bweyeye to Cyangugu. This expedition aims to occupy the prefectures of Cyangugu and Kibuye to seize Gisenyi from Kibuye with the support of the Ugandan army, which will pass through the volcanoes. ... The CDR party reiterates its call to the patriotic Rwandan people to strongly denounce the MDR, PL, PSD, and PDC parties that have engaged in coalition with the Inyenzi-Inkotanyi to decimate the majority people. It appears here that the CDR is not only targeting Tutsis but also Hutu from opposition parties considered enemies of the majority people. On February 23, 1993, the CDR publicly condemned all individuals participating in the Arusha peace negotiations: The CDR party seizes this opportunity to ask the majority people to condemn with the utmost energy all these traitors and to turn a deaf ear to their sermons, which are nothing but lies manifested in their acts of betrayal. Finally, in another communiqué dated February 25, 1993, the CDR maintained the spread of its genocidal ideology, stating: The killings committed by Museveni's army and the Inyenzi-Inkotanyi, which aim at the extermination of the majority people, are revenge for the 1959 revolution. ... The CDR party renews its warning to the Hutu, wherever they are that these massacres do not concern only one specific region but are planned throughout the country. Therefore, the Hutu must come together to fight against the enemy, aiming for their extermination. ... The CDR party once again warns the Inyenzi-Inkotanyi and their accomplices that the blood they continue to shed will be avenged. After signing the Arusha peace accords, the CDR published even more acerbic communiqués than before. In addition to urging Hutu to reject these agreements, the CDR openly called on them to commit massacres. The first communiqué released after the Rwandan government's signing of the Arusha Accords is titled: This does not concern me; I am a member of the CDR. It resembles another text analyzed above (You, Unfortunate Hutu). The CDR addresses all categories of Hutu—ordinary citizens, military personnel, traders, ministers, state officials, and others—explaining to them that if they approve the Arusha Accords, they should prepare to leave their belongings, which will be allocated to the Inyenzi: Hutu, you who reclaimed your property in 1959, right after the exile of the Inyenzi, leave them; they have come back to take them as stipulated in the Arusha Accords. This does not concern me; I am a member of the CDR. Rwanda citizens get ready to endure torture and pay taxes to enrich the Inkotanyi as stipulated in the Arusha Accords. This does not concern me; I am a member of the CDR. Military personnel of the Rwandan Armed Forces, surrender your weapons and plow the swamps as stipulated in the Arusha Accords. This does not concern me; I am a member of the CDR. Rwandan trader, you unfortunate one, get ready; taxes will increase so that the government of which the Inyenzi are a part can pay the debts they incurred buying weapons to attack the majority people, as stipulated in the Arusha Accords. This does not concern me; I am a member of the CDR. Minister, leave the capital and go work in Byumba, where the Inkotanyi can capture you as stipulated in the Arusha Accords. This does not concern me; I am a member of the CDR. State official, vacate your office so that it can be occupied by the Inyenzi as envisaged in the Arusha Accords. This does not concern me; I am a member of the CDR. Rwandans who travel by taxi get ready to continue filling the pockets of the RPF. If their brothers keep raising transport fees before they arrive, here they come, and 40 francs will quadruple. This does not concern me; I am a member of the CDR. Hutu, all of you, prepare to be treated by the Inyenzi, who will inoculate you with AIDS, as the Arusha Accords have granted health ministry within their attributions. This does not concern me; I am a member of the CDR. Hutu is still asleep, although you are intelligent. Prepare to be eliminated by the Inyenzi as the Inyenzi Museveni did in Uganda. This does not concern me; I am a member of the CDR. You innocents, get ready to be incessantly harassed by the Inyenzi since they will have security, intelligence, and justice within their attributions. This does not concern me; I am a member of the CDR. The CDR published many other communiqués in this logic of hate propaganda. The founders of the CDR spread this ideology to the youth, notably through the Impuzamugambi militias, which established a Youth-CDR section responsible for executing the genocide. Their president was Jean-Damascène Muhutu, and their vice president was Jean-Baptiste Hategekimana. The writer is the Minister of National Unity and Civic Engagement.
