The Akazu (, ''little house'') was an informal organization of

Hutu The Hutu (), also known as the Abahutu, are a Bantu ethnic or social group which is native to the African Great Lakes region. They mainly live in Rwanda, Burundi and the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, where they form one of the prin ...

extremists whose members contributed strongly to the 1994

Rwandan genocide The Rwandan genocide occurred between 7 April and 15 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 ...

. A circle of relatives and close friends of

Rwanda Rwanda (; rw, u Rwanda ), officially the Republic of Rwanda, is a landlocked country in the Great Rift Valley of Central Africa, where the African Great Lakes region and Southeast Africa converge. Located a few degrees south of the Equator ...

's then-president

Juvénal Habyarimana Juvénal Habyarimana (, ; 8 March 19376 April 1994) was a Rwandan politician and military officer who served as the second president of Rwanda, from 1973 until 1994. He was nicknamed ''Kinani'', a Kinyarwanda word meaning "invincible". An ethn ...

and his influential wife

Agathe Habyarimana Agathe Kanziga Habyarimana, ''née'' Kanziga (born 21 January 1942 in Karago, Gisenyi prefecture, Western Province, Rwanda) is the widow of former President of Rwanda Juvénal Habyarimana and former First Lady of Rwanda from 1973 until 1994. Ka ...

, they were also called the Zero Network, for their goal of a Rwanda with zero

Tutsi The Tutsi (), or Abatutsi (), are an ethnic group of the African Great Lakes region. They are a Bantu-speaking ethnic group and the second largest of three main ethnic groups in Rwanda and Burundi (the other two being the largest Bantu ethnic grou ...

Background

The ''Akazu'' were relatives of Habyarimana's and others he knew from his Northern Rwanda district; they held important appointed positions of authority in the Hutu regime. The Akazu did not wish to share government with the

Tutsis The Tutsi (), or Abatutsi (), are an ethnic group of the African Great Lakes region. They are a Bantu-speaking ethnic group and the second largest of three main ethnic groups in Rwanda and Burundi (the other two being the largest Bantu ethnic grou ...

(particularly the expatriate rebels resident in

Uganda }), is a landlocked country in East Africa East Africa, Eastern Africa, or East of Africa, is the eastern subregion of the African continent. In the United Nations Statistics Division scheme of geographic regions, 10-11-(16*) territor ...

) or moderate Hutu. They contributed to the development of

Hutu Power Hutu Power is a racial and ethnosupremacist ideology that asserts the ethnic superiority of Hutu, often in the context of being superior to Tutsi and Twa, and that therefore they are entitled to dominate and murder these two groups and other mino ...

ideology and fanned resentment against the Tutsi during the 1990s. Some scholars believe their genocidal ideology and massacres were an effort to hold on to the political power they had gathered since Habyarimana came to power in a military coup against the elected government.De Figueiredo & Weingast. (1999). "The rationality of fear: Political opportunism and ethnic conflict", in (eds.) Walter & Snyder, ''Civil Wars, Insecurity and Intervention'', New York: Columbia University Press, p. 261.

Known members

* Protais Zigiranyirazo * Seraphin Rwabukumba * FAR Colonel Elie Sagatwa * FAR Colonel

Théoneste Bagosora Théoneste Bagosora (16 August 1941 – 25 September 2021) was a Rwandan military officer. He was chiefly known for his key role in the 1994 Rwandan genocide for which he was sentenced to life imprisonment by the International Criminal Tribunal ...

* FAR Colonel Laurent Serubuga *

Félicien Kabuga Félicien Kabuga (born 1 March 1933) is a Rwandan businessman and génocidaire who played a major role in the run-up to the Genocide of the Rwandan Tutsis. A multimillionaire,

* Agathe Kanziga * Dr. Séraphin Bararengana * Charles Nzabagerageza * Alphonse Ntirivamunda * Minister Joseph Nzirorera * Noel Mbonabaryi

External links

* {{url, http://www.preventgenocide.org/edu/pastgenocides/rwanda/resources * https://books.google.nl/books?id=ceFIryEHTL4C&pg=PA105&lpg=PA105&dq=members+akazu&source=bl&ots=krIrQnLKI2&sig=ACfU3U2fyzgTgFt7x-vVqVfKCnexY0I8MA&hl=nl&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwinleyS0IHxAhUNkxQKHQ3SANIQ6AEwAXoECAIQAw#v=onepage&q=members%20akazu&f=false

References

People of the Rwandan genocide Rebel groups in Rwanda