Chronology

1897 Establishment of a German military protectorate over Rwanda.

1900 Foundation of the first Catholic Mission in Save by priests belonging to the Society of African Missionaries.

1916 The Belgian troops expel the few German officers and the country passes under Belgian military administration.

1922 Belgium receives the mandate from the League of Nations on the "Territories of Ruanda-Urundi"

1931 The ethnic mention is affixed to identity booklets aimed at identifying adult men who are able-bodied with a view to collecting taxes and applying forced labour. King Musinga, hostile to evangelization is deposed by the Belgian authorities. His son, Mutara Rudahigwa, accedes to the throne.

1946 Rwanda and Burundi come under Belgian supervision, the United Nations taking over from the League of Nations.

1957 Publication of the Bahutu Manifesto, subtitled "Note on the social aspect of the indigenous racial question", signed by an elite Hutu party including Grégoire Kayibanda. This text recommends the maintenance of ethnic mentions on identity cards and advises recourse to medicine in cases of "miscegenation".

1959 (October) Grégoire Kayibanda founded the Party for the Emancipation of the Hutu people (the Parmehutu) which demanded the abolition of "Tutsi colonization" before the departure of the Belgians.

(November) 'Hutu social revolution' which translates into the massacre of several hundred Tutsi. The violence mainly targets members of the 'indigenous' administration, that is to say the chiefs and sub-chiefs, set up by the colonizer who then overturned his initial alliance by now encouraging the 'Hutu Revolution'. Tens of thousands of Tutsi are taking the path of exile in neighboring countries.

1961 The monarchy is abolished by referendum.

1962 (1^er July) Rwanda gains independence under the presidency of Grégoire Kayibanda.

1963- 1964 (December-January) Incursions of Tutsi exiles (nicknamed Inyenzi – cockroaches – due to their night attacks) from the south of the country unleash a fierce repression against the Tutsi from within. The massacres take a considerable scale in Gikongoro: between 10 and 20% of the Tutsi population of this prefecture are murdered by gangs armed with spears and sticks, on order of the prefect. The violence then extends to the surrounding prefectures and results in a total of between 10,000 and 14,000 victims. In the newspaper’s edition The World of February 6, 1964, the philosopher Bertrand Russel denounces a "most horrible and systematic massacre of men to which it has been given to witness since the extermination of the Jews by the Nazis in Europe." Tens of thousands of Tutsis are swelling the ranks of refugees.

1973 (February-March) Purges organized by "Committees of Public Safety" cause new violence against the Tutsi, chased from schools, universities, seminars and civil service. Huts are set on fire and about 200 people murdered.

(July 5) Major-General Juvenal Habyarimana, a Hutu officer from the north of the country, takes power in favor of a coup d'état.

1975 The National Revolutionary Movement for Development (MRND) is founded. It is the only authorized party in the country.

1987 Faced with the unwillingness of the Habyarimana regime to grant Tutsi refugees the right to return, they – and their descendants – founded the Rwandan Patriotic Front (FPR). This movement acquires an armed wing, the Rwandan Patriotic Army (RPA). It also includes Hutu dissidents in power in Kigali.

1988-1989 Rwanda is facing a serious economic crisis following the collapse of coffee and tea prices on the international market.

1990 (1^er October) The RPF launched its first offensive in the east of the country, quickly suppressed by the Rwandan Armed Forces (FAR), supported by Zairean, Belgian and especially French troops. In response, the Rwandan authorities throw into prison several thousand people, most of whom are Tutsi, accused of "complicity" with the enemy.

1991 (June) Faced with the protest movement of civil society, President Habyarimana concedes a multiparty system.

1992 The militias Interahamwe, movement of young people affiliated to the MRND, are created. These militias are joined in their fight against the "Tutsi enemy" by a racist party, the Coalition for the Defense of the Republic (CDR).

(March) The broadcast on national radio of a leaflet falsely attributing the murder of Hutu by members of a party with a Tutsi dominant serves as a pretext for the outbreak of massacres in the region of Bugesera (south of Kigali). Militiamen, local authorities and civilians combine their forces.

1993 (August) The Arusha Agreements are signed between President Habyarimana, the opposition parties and the RPF. They plan the sharing of power and the fusion of armies.

(October) The United Nations Assistance Mission for Rwanda (UNAMIR) commanded by Canadian General Roméo Dallaire begins its deployment.

1994 (April) On the evening of April 6, President Habyarimana’s plane is shot down. The elite units of the Rwandan army and the militiamen are crisscrossing Kigali. Colonel Bagosora convenes a crisis committee during which he refuses to hand over power to the Prime Minister Agathe Uwilingiyimana as provided for by the constitution.

April 7 The Prime Minister is assassinated at her home by soldiers; Hutu political opponents are systematically murdered. The ten Belgian peacekeepers assigned to protect the Prime Minister are massacred at Camp Kigali by Rwandan soldiers. The RPF resumes the offensive.

8-9 April An interim government is formed and then sworn in.

9-15 April Several Western powers, including Belgium and France, send troops to Rwanda to ensure the evacuation of their nationals.

April 21 The United Nations Security Council reduces the strength of the UN force from 2,500 to 270 men, a majority of whom are civilians.

1994 (May) The majority of the victims were murdered.

22 June France launches Operation Turquoise under the auspices of the United Nations. While the genocide is consummated, the French forces form a glacis in the west of the country allowing extremist government officials to flee towards Zaire in the face of the advance of RPF troops.

4 July The RPF wins the battle of Kigali.

July 19 The forces of genocide are in disarray having driven more than two million Hutu civilians into exile in Zaire and Tanzania. A new government of "National Union" is being set up in Kigali, dominated by the RPF.