Rwanda

glossary

Acronyms

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

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

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.

APR: Rwandan Patriotic Army, armed wing of the FPR.

FAR: Rwandan Armed Forces, name of the government army.

RTLM: Radio Télévision Libre des Mille collines, an 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 Accords.

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

Universal jurisdiction: This provision of international law allows a State to prosecute the perpetrators of serious crimes, in particular war crimes and crimes against humanity, regardless of where the crime was committed, and regardless of the nationality of the perpetrators or victims.

Terms in Kinyarwanda

In Kinyarwanda, the marks of the singular and plural are a function of the class to which the nouns belong. It is customary to observe this grammatical rule.

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

Igitero (plur. ibitero): group of killers.

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

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

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

Ibuka: "Remember," the main association representing genocide survivors.

Iyenzi: insulting term in Kinyarwanda meaning cockroach.

Note on the administrative organization of Rwanda in 1994

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