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Graphic shows timeline of the 1994 genocide.
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CRIME

Rwanda genocide remembered

By Jordi Bou

April 7, 2014 - Over just 100 days in 1994, ethnic Hutu extremists killed around 800,000 people in an attempt to exterminate Rwanda’s minority Tutsi community, which had long dominated the country.

On April 6, 1994, President Juvenal Habyarimana, a Hutu, was killed when his plane was shot down over Kigali.

The folowing day, Hutu extremists in the military reacted to the death of Habyarimana by launching a killing spree that lasted 100 days.

The Tutsi militants of the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), led by Rwanda’s current president, Paul Kagame, eventually defeated the Hutu troops, stopping the bloodletting.

Rwanda, which has accused France of complicity in the genocide has invited President Emmanuel Macron to the 25th commemoration. Paris has consistently denied any involvement in the massacre.

In December 2018, French judges dropped a long-running investigation into the killing of former President Habyarimana. The probe represented a major source of tension between the two countries after seven people close to President Paul Kagame were charged in the French investigation.

If events follow the pattern of previous key anniversaries, a flame of remembrance will be carried around the central African country’s towns and villages. Wreath-laying ceremonies will be held at memorial sites and also at Kigali’s soccer stadium in the presence of foreign dignitaries.

Sources
PUBLISHED: 21/03/2019; STORY: Graphic News; PICTURES: Getty Images
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