This report documents AI’s concern about the killings in Rwanda precipitated by the killing on 6 April 1994 of President Juvenal Habyarimana. By early May almost 200 000 were estimated to have been killed, most from the minority Tutsi ethnic group. The killings have apparently been systematic and condoned at the highest level. Most of the killers come from the Hutu group and are supporters of the former ruling party, the MRND, particularly its youth wing Interahamwe. Others belong to the allied CDR and its youth organization, known as Impuzamugambi. This report describes killings of Tutsi (and Hutu accused of suporting them) in Kigali; Northern and Eastern Rwanda; Cyangugu Prefecture; and Mukarange parish. Also described are massacres of hospital patients and orphan children in Butare. AI has also received reports of killings by the opposition RPF and its supporters, albeit on a lesser scale than those by Hutu militias.
