Topic summary
Assassination of Juvénal Habyarimana and Cyprien Ntaryamira
- Dictator of Rwanda
1973–1994
- Government
- 1973 Rwandan coup d'état
- MRND
- Interahamwe
- Hutu Nationalism
- 1978 constitutional referendum
- 1981 parliamentary election
- 1983 parliamentary election
- 1988 parliamentary election
- Arusha Accords
- Presidential elections
- Battles/wars
- Bugesera invasion (disputed)
- Civil War
- Ideology
- Far-right politics
- Hutu supremacism
- Anti-communism
- Social conservatism
- Right-wing authoritarianism
- Totalitarianism
- Military dictatorship
- Anti-Tutsi sentiment
On the evening of 6 April 1994, the aircraft carrying RwandanpresidentJuvénal Habyarimana and BurundianpresidentCyprien Ntaryamira, both Hutu, was shot down with surface-to-air missiles as their jet prepared to land in Kigali, Rwanda; both were killed. The assassination set in motion the Rwandan genocide, one of the bloodiest events of the late 20th century.
Responsibility for the attack is disputed. Most theories propose as suspects either the Tutsi rebel Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) or government-aligned Hutu Power followers opposed to negotiation with the RPF.