The Rwandan genocide, also known as the genocide against the Tutsi, occurred between 7 April and 19 July 1994 during the Rwandan Civil War. During this period of around 100 days, members of the Tutsi minority ethnic group, as well as some moderate Hutu and Twa, were killed by armed Hutu militias. Although the Constitution of Rwanda states that more than 1 million people perished in the genocide, the actual number of fatalities is unclear, and some estimates suggest that the real number killed was likely lower. The most widely accepted scholarly estimates are around 500,000 to 800,000 Tutsi deaths.
Human skulls at the Nyamata Genocide Memorial Centre
Rwandan genocide memorial in Geneva, Switzerland
Paul Kagame, commander of the Rwandan Patriotic Front for most of the Civil War
Juvénal Habyarimana in 1980
The Rwandan Civil War was a large-scale civil war in Rwanda which was fought between the Rwandan Armed Forces, representing the country's government, and the rebel Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) from 1 October 1990 to 18 July 1994. The war arose from the long-running dispute between the Hutu and Tutsi groups within the Rwandan population. A 1959–1962 revolution had replaced the Tutsi monarchy with a Hutu-led republic, forcing more than 336,000 Tutsi to seek refuge in neighbouring countries. A group of these refugees in Uganda founded the RPF which, under the leadership of Fred Rwigyema and Paul Kagame, became a battle-ready army by the late 1980s.
A reconstruction of the King of Rwanda's palace at Nyanza
Hutu army officer Juvénal Habyarimana (pictured) became President of Rwanda after a 1973 coup.
Ugandan president Yoweri Museveni with Ronald Reagan at the White House in October 1987
The Virunga Mountains, the RPF base from 1990 to 1991