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The Call
The radio station RTLM began broadcasting on July 8th to the Hutu to begin killing the Tutsi by using a code phrase "cut down the tall trees". The broadcasts also referred to the Tutsi as cockroaches and told the Hutu to crush the cockroaches. -
100 day period
During the 100 day period as many as 800,000 people were murdered in Rwanda. This number includes men, women and children. -
Identification Cards
All Tutsi and Hutu had been required to carry identification cards identifying their nationality. This made it easy for the Hutu to identify Tutsi during the slaughter. -
The Start
The genocide began in Kigali, Rwanda's capital city. It spread rapidly from there to the rest of Rwanda. -
Every minute
On average six men, women and children were killed every minute of the genocide. -
Anti-Tutsi
Magazine Published Anti-Tutsi Messages As Well. -
Corpes
To further degrade the Tutsi, Hutu extremists would not allow the Tutsi dead to be buried. Their bodies were left where they were slaughtered, exposed to the elements, eaten by rats and dogs.
Many Tutsi bodies were thrown into rivers, lakes, and streams in order to send the Tutsis "back to Ethiopia" - a reference to the myth that the Tutsi were foreigners and originally came from Ethiopia. -
Orphans
It is estimated that between 250 000 and 500 000 women were raped during the 100 days of genocide. As many as 20 000 children were born from these rapes.75 000 of the surviving children were orphaned as a result of the genocide. -
Massacre at Gikondo
Massacre at Gikondo - hundreds of Tutsis are killed in the Pallottine Missionary Catholic Church. Since the killers were clearly targeting only Tutsi, the Gikondo massacre was the first clear sign that a genocide was occurring. -
Safe Zone
The French establish a safe zone in the southwest corner of Rwanda. -
Kibuye
The Kibuye Massacres. An estimated 12,000 Tutsis are killed after sheltering at the Gatwaro stadium in Gitesi. Another 50,000 are killed in the hills of Bisesero. More are killed in the town's hospital and church. -
Nyarubuye
Massacre at the Nyarubuye Roman Catholic Church - thousands of Tutsi are killed, first by grenades and guns and then by machetes and clubs. -
Civil War
Rwanda fell into civil war in 1990 after Tutsi rebels formed the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF). The warring sides signed the Arusha Accords in 1993 to create a power-sharing government. -
Ceasefire
In 1993 a ceasefire had been created to implement an agreement to allow a power-sharing government between the Hutu and Rwandan Patriotic Front. -
Death of President Juvenal Habyarimana
Juvenal Habyarima'a plane was shot down above Kigali airport on 6 April 1994 sparking the beginning of the slaughter of hundreds of people. It has been rumored that the Hutus were to blame in the assasination of the president
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8453832.stm -
Brodcasted
RTLM broadcasted this message: And you people who live…near Rugunga,… go out. You will see the cockroaches’ (inkotanyi) straw huts in the marsh… I think that those who have guns should immediately go to these cockroaches… encircle them and kill them… Another broadcast threatened Tutsis outright: You cockroaches must know you are made of flesh! We won’t let you kill! We will kill you! -
Rwandan Death
Between April and June 1994 (~100 days), an estimated 800,000 Rwandans were killed. -
Mass Killing
The mass killings spread like wildfire from the capital to the rest of the landlocked East African nation, with some 800,000 people killed during the next three months. By early July, the Tutsi-led RPF had taken control of much of the country, and more than 2 million people, almost all of them Hutus, fled Rwanda. -
Presidential Guard
Within an hour of the downing of the plane, the presidential guard along with members of the Rwandan armed forces and Hutu militia groups set up roadblocks in Kigali to identify Tutsi and even moderate Hutus before brutally slaughtering them with impunity. -
The End
After declaring victory, the RPF set up a coalition government with Pasteur Bizimungu, a Hutu, as president and Paul Kagame, a Tutsi, as vice president and defense minister. Rwanda adopted a new constitution in 2003, which eliminated references to ethnicity and paved the way for new elections. Kagame was elected to a 10-year term as president.
