Rwanda

glossary

Acronyms

MRND: National Revolutionary Movement for Development, single party from 1975, placed under the rule of President Habyarimana.

MDR: Republican Democratic Movement. Main opposition party to the MNRD during the multi-party system. He is the heir of Parmehutu, the party founded by Grégoire Kayibanda at the end of the 1950s. Like the other parties, it split in October 1993 into a "Hutu Power" faction and a moderate wing, favorable to sharing power with the RPF.

RPF: Rwandan Patriotic Front, a political party founded in 1987 by the descendants of Tutsi exiles who fled the massacres of the 1960s. It also welcomes Hutu dissidents to the Habyarimana regime.

RPA: Rwandan Patriotic Army, armed wing of the RPF.

FAR: Rwandan armed forces, name of the government army.

RTLM: Radio Télévision Libre des Mille collines, extremist media created in July 1993.

UNAMIR: United Nations Assistance Mission for Rwanda, a United Nations force deployed from October 1993 to supervise the implementation of the Arusha Agreements.

ICTR: International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, established on 8 November 1994.

Universal jurisdiction: This provision of international law allows a state to prosecute serious crimes, in particular war crimes and crimes against humanity, regardless of where the crime was committed, and without regard to the nationality of the perpetrators or victims.

Terms in Kinyarwanda

In Kinyarwanda, the singular and plural marks depend on the class to which the nouns belong. According to practice, this grammatical rule must be respected.

Gacaca: a term whose etymology refers to the grass on which village assemblies were held in Rwanda to settle disputes. Since 2001, the gacaca jurisdictions have been responsible for most of the investigation and trial of litigation related to the genocide of the Tutsi. The judges (inyangamugayo, the "honest ones") were elected by the population and are mostly former neighbors, survivors or witnesses, having gone through the experience of the massacres. On 18 June 2012, this unprecedented judicial process was officially closed. Nearly two million files have been examined by these jurisdictions, rooted in the micro-local spaces of hills and neighborhoods.

Igitero (plur. ibitero): group of killers.

Interahamwe: 'Those who attack together', a youth movement affiliated to the MRND which is forming into a militia.

Icyunamo: mourning, refers to the week of national mourning marking the commemorations of the genocide in Rwanda.

Abakijije abantu: 'Those who saved people', refers to the people who risked their lives to save Tutsi during the genocide.

Ibuka: 'Remember', the main representative association of genocide survivors.

Iyenzi: insulting term in Kinyarwanda which means cockroach.

Note on the administrative organization of Rwanda in 1994

    The country is divided into four essential entities:
  • The prefecture, led by a prefect
  • The commune, headed by a mayor
  • The sector, led by an advisor
  • The cell, led by a manager