The Rwandan Genocide: How It Was PreparedA Human Rights Watch Briefing Paper April 2006 Number 1
The Immediate Crises: Internal Opposition and War Links between War and Internal Opposition: Resort to the Ethnic Appeal Genocide: Ideology and Organization Before leaving they will massacre the Tutsi The RPF advance and the call for self-defense Party rivalries and Hutu solidarity April 7, 1994: Massive Killing Begins On the twelfth anniversary of the Rwandan genocide, we must honor the memory of the victims and think again of the pain and horror caused by the 1994 killing campaign. We must recall the suffering that followed the refusal of others in the world to heed the cries of those targeted for extermination. Honoring the victims requires us also to continue investigating, documenting, and analyzing how the genocide was prepared and executed, so as to be better prepared to avert similar horrors in the future. As part of our continuing effort to bring to light the fullest information possible about the genocide, we publish this briefing paper, drawing upon some materials not previously used by researchers to show the planning and execution of the genocide.1 [1] Human Rights Watch (then Africa Watch) began reporting on massacres of Tutsi and other human rights abuses in Rwanda in 1991. As part of an international commission of inquiry, Human Rights Watch documented abuses and violations of humanitarian international law from October 1990 through January 1993. In partnership with the International Federation of Human Rights Leagues, Human Rights Watch researchers began gathering evidence about the genocide in 1994. After five years of research, we published Leave None to Tell the Story: Genocide in Rwanda. Human Rights Watch staff regularly assist judicial authorities in efforts to bring to justice those guilty of genocide and other violations of international humanitarian law in Rwanda. This briefing paper continues efforts to bring to light the fullest information possible about the genocide. |