Chapter 10, Rwanda: "Mostly in a Listening Mode" Summary

On April 6, 1994 Rwandan president Juvenal Habyarimana's jet was shot down with both President Habyarimana and Burundian president Cyprien Ntaryamira onboard. Major General Romeo Dallaire, commander of the UN mission, saw the news on television and went to the Rwandan army headquarters. There he found Colonel Theoneste Bagosora, a Hutu, in command of the Rwandan army, arguing that the army needed to take charge of the country. Within hours of the president's death, armed Hutus took command and began targeting supporters of the Hutu-Tutsi peace process. Hutu gunmen and soldiers executed virtually all of Rwanda's moderate politicians. The gunmen also killed ten Belgian soldiers, part of the UN mission. Lists of victims had been prepared ahead of time and executions were carried out with efficiency.

In response to the killings, Tutsi rebels of the Rwandan Patriotic Front resumed...