RWANDAN PRIME MINISTER AGATHE UWILINGIYIMANA ASSASSINATION
Agathe Uwilingiyimana was a Rwandan politician who served as the Prime Minister of Rwanda from July 18, 1993, until her assassination on April 7, 1994. Her assassination occurred just hours after the Rwandan President Juvénal Habyarimana was killed in a plane crash, which sparked the Rwandan Genocide.
Uwilingiyimana was a moderate Hutu and a member of the Democratic Republican Movement (MDR). She was appointed as the Prime Minister under the Arusha Accords, a peace agreement signed between the Rwandan government and the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), which aimed to end the Rwandan Civil War and establish a power-sharing government. However, her government was weak and faced opposition from hardline Hutu extremists, who opposed the peace agreement and were hostile towards Tutsis.
On the morning of April 7, 1994, Uwilingiyimana was at her residence in Kigali when she was attacked by a group of Rwandan soldiers, who were loyal to the extremist Hutu government. The soldiers overpowered her security guards and entered her house, where they brutally murdered her and her husband, as well as her three children and several members of her staff.
Uwilingiyimana’s assassination was a significant turning point in the Rwandan Genocide. Her death left a power vacuum in the government, which was quickly filled by the extremist Hutu government, who began to systematically target and kill Tutsis and moderate Hutus. The Rwandan Patriotic Front, led by Paul Kagame, launched an offensive against the government, which eventually led to the defeat of the Hutu government and the end of the genocide.
Uwilingiyimana’s assassination was widely condemned by the international community, who recognized her as a symbol of hope for peace and reconciliation in Rwanda. Her death is a tragic reminder of the horrors of the Rwandan Genocide and the need for vigilance against ethnic hatred and violence.
She was assassinated on April 7, 1994, at the beginning of the Rwandan genocide.
The assassination of Prime Minister Uwilingiyimana was carried out by soldiers from the Rwandan Armed Forces who were loyal to the extremist Hutu government that was in power at the time. The soldiers were members of the Presidential Guard and were led by Major Bernard Ntuyahaga, who was later convicted for his involvement in the assassination.
On the morning of April 7, 1994, a group of soldiers went to Prime Minister Uwilingiyimana’s residence and demanded to see her. When she refused to come out, the soldiers forced their way into the house and killed her and her husband. The prime minister’s three children managed to escape with the help of a Belgian peacekeeper who was guarding the residence.
The assassination of Prime Minister Uwilingiyimana was one of the first acts of violence that occurred during the Rwandan genocide, which lasted for approximately 100 days and resulted in the deaths of an estimated 800,000 people, mostly Tutsis and moderate Hutus.