The Foreign Service Journal, April 2004

48 F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L / A P R I L 2 0 0 4 1300s : Tutsis migrate into what is now Rwanda, which was already inhabited by the Twa and Hutu peo- ples. 1600s : Tutsi King Ruganzu Ndori subdues central Rwanda and outly- ing Hutu areas. 1800s : Tutsi King Kigeri Rwabugiri establishes a unified state with a centralized military structure. 1890 : Rwanda becomes a German colony following the partition of Africa at the Berlin Conference of 1885. 1919 : After World War I, control of Rwanda is transferred from Germany to Belgium. Like Germany, Belgium perpetuates a hegemony of the minority Tutsi over the Hutu. 1933 : Belgian administrators begin identifying Rwandans as either Tutsi or Hutu on birth certificates and identity cards. 1959-1961 : A Hutu revolution over- throws the Tutsi monarchy. Gregoire Kayibanda, a Hutu, is elected presi- dent in 1961. Thousands of Tutsis are exiled to neighboring countries amidst several waves of massacres of Tutsi. 1962 : Rwanda is granted indepen- dence. 1973 : Maj. Gen. Juvenal Habyarimana, a Hutu, takes power in a coup d’etat. 1990 : The Rwandan Patriotic Front invades Rwanda from bases in Uganda. The RPF is made up largely of Tutsis who were refugees in Uganda and served in the Ugandan Army. Maj. Gen. Paul Kagame is head of the RPF. 1992 : A cease-fire is declared between the RPF and the Habyarimana government. 1993 : In October, the U.N. votes to send 2,500 troops to monitor the peace and power-sharing accord between the RPF and the Habyarimana government. 1994 : On Jan. 11, Maj. Gen. Romeo Dallaire, the U.N. commander in Rwanda, sends a coded cable saying he intends to take action on informa- tion that a Hutu plan to exterminate Tutsi is under way. The U.N. orders Dallaire to take no action. On April 6, a plane carrying President Habyarimana and fellow Hutu President Cyprien Ntaryamira of Burundi is shot down on approach to the Kigali Airport. The two were returning from a meeting in Tanzania to discuss implementation of the peace and power-sharing accord. The attack is widely believed to have been the work of extremist Hutu, opposed to any power-sharing with the RPF. Within hours, government soldiers and Hutu militia begin killing Tutsis and moderate Hutus. On April 10, the U.S. embassy in Kigali is closed. France, Belgium and the U.S. evacuate their citizens. On April 14, Belgium withdraws troops from the U.N. Mission in Rwanda. On April 21, the U.N. Security Council reduces the size of the U.N. military contingent in Rwanda from 2,500 to 270. On April 29, U.N. Secretary General Boutros Boutros-Ghali calls for more U.N. troops to be sent to Rwanda, stating that the number of killed may have reached 200,000. The Security Council rejects the request. On April 30, the U.N. Security coun- cil passes a resolution condemning the killing in Rwanda, but does not identify the killing as genocide (which would obligate the U.N. to take action against the perpetra- tors). On May 10, the U.N. begins to dis- cuss sending 5,500 troops to Rwanda; the Clinton administration favors a smaller force. On May 31, U.N. Secretary General Boutros-Ghali reports to the Security Council: “We have failed in our response to the agony of Rwanda, and thus have acquiesced in the con- tinued loss of human lives.” He states that “there can be little doubt” that the killing in Rwanda “consti- tutes genocide.” The Clinton admin- istration remains reluctant to use the word “genocide.” On June 8, the U.N. Security Council approves sending 5,500 troops to Rwanda. On June 23, France, long a military supporter of the Hutu government, begins a “humanitarian intervention” in Rwanda that is opposed by NGOs but narrowly endorsed by the U.N. Security Council. On July 4, the RPF captures Kigali, the capital of Rwanda. On July 14, Rwandan refugees, mostly Hutus, begin flooding into Zaire, nearly a million over the next few days. On July 18, the RPF says the war is over, declares a cease-fire and announces formation of a govern- ment. On July 19, cholera strikes refugee camps in Zaire, killing thousands daily. On July 23, President Clinton orders the Pentagon to send relief supplies to aid Rwandan refugees. On Aug. 21, the French withdraw from Rwanda. On Nov. 8, the U.N. Security Council approves a resolution setting up an international court to try people charged with genocide in Rwanda. Rwanda votes against the resolution, declaring it will cooperate with the court, but intends to carry out its own trials. A Timeline to Tragedy: Rwanda, 1300–1994 Source: The New York Times and BBC News.