The Impuzamugambi (, ''"those with the same goal"'') was a

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 ...

militia A militia () is generally an army or some other fighting organization of non-professional soldiers, citizens of a country, or subjects of a state, who may perform military service during a time of need, as opposed to a professional force of r ...

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 Equat ...

formed in 1992. Together with the

Interahamwe The Interahamwe ( or ) is a Hutu paramilitary organization active in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda. The Interahamwe was formed around 1990 as the youth wing of the National Republican Movement for Democracy and Development (MRND ...

militia, which formed earlier and had more members, the Impuzamugambi was responsible for many of the deaths of

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 ...

s and moderate Hutus during the Genocide against the Tutsi of 1994. While the Interahamwe was led by prominent figures in the ruling party National Republican Movement for Democracy and Development (''Mouvement républicain national pour la démocratie et le développement'', MRND), the Impuzamugambi was controlled by the leadership of the Coalition for the Defense of the Republic (''Coalition pour la Défense de la République'', CDR) and recruited its members from the youth wing of the CDR. The CDR was a separate Hutu party which cooperated with the MRND, though it had a significantly more extreme ethnically Pro-Hutu and Anti-Tutsi agenda than the MRND. The smaller Impuzamugambi was less organized than the Interahamwe, but it was responsible for a large portion of genocidal deaths. Like the Interahamwe, the Impuzamugambi was trained and equipped by the Rwandan Government Forces (RGF) and the Presidential Guard of Rwanda's president and MRND leader

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 eth ...

. When the genocide started in April 1994, the Interahamwe and the Impuzamugambi acted in close collaboration and largely merged their structures and activities, though some distinction was still evident in differences in their clothing. Some génocidaires participated with both militias in the killings of Tutsis and moderate Hutu. After the main period of genocide, members of both militias as well as large parts of the Hutu population fled from Rwanda to the east of the

Democratic Republic of Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (french: République démocratique du Congo (RDC), colloquially "La RDC" ), informally Congo-Kinshasa, DR Congo, the DRC, the DROC, or the Congo, and formerly and also colloquially Zaire, is a country in ...

. Of the leadership of the CDR, Hassan Ngeze and Jean Bosco Barayagwiza were greatly responsible for commanding the Impuzamugambi. Both were found guilty in 2003 by the

International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR; french: Tribunal pénal international pour le Rwanda; rw, Urukiko Mpanabyaha Mpuzamahanga Rwashyiriweho u Rwanda) was an international court established in November 1994 by the United Nati ...

of planning and leading the genocide, incitement of genocide, and crimes against humanity. They were both sentenced to

life imprisonment Life imprisonment is any sentence of imprisonment for a crime under which convicted people are to remain in prison for the rest of their natural lives or indefinitely until pardoned, paroled, or otherwise commuted to a fixed term. Crimes for ...

. The sentence against Barayagwiza was later reduced to 35 years due to a partial violation of

due process Due process of law is application by state of all legal rules and principles pertaining to the case so all legal rights that are owed to the person are respected. Due process balances the power of law of the land and protects the individual pe ...

. After deducting time already served, he would have stayed in prison for at least 27 years but later died.

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{{more footnotes, date=January 2015
International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda
Paramilitary organisations based in Rwanda Rwandan genocide Rwandan genocide perpetrators Military wings of fascist parties Rebel groups in Rwanda

See also

References

External links