This report deals with human rights violations allegedly committed by the Rwandese Patriotic Army (known as the armed wing of the Rwandese Patriotic Front (RPF) until July 1994) in the period April-August 1994. While it is not appropriate to make any comparison with the horrendous scale of the massacres committed by forces loyal to the former government between April and July 1994, AI is still concerned that many defenceless people have been killed by the RPA and its supporters. Violations have included hundreds of deliberate executions, as well as abductions or “disappearances” of captured combatants and unarmed civilians suspected of supporting the former government. They appear to have gone largely unreported: the RPF closely monitored areas under its control, hindering the gathering of information by independent observers about abuses. AI is also concerned that the new authorities are not known to have conducted independent and impartial inquiries to establish the full truth about these allegations.
