Paul Rusesabagina - Timeline of Rwandan Genocide Events

Timeline of Rwandan Genocide Events

• April 6, 1994 – Rwandan President Habyarimana’s plane was shot down by missiles as it approached the Kigali airport for landing. The President of Burundi, the Rwandan army chief of staff, and the head of presidential security are also killed in the crash.
• April 7 – Presidential guard assassinated Prime Minister Agathe Uwilingiyimana. Interhamwe hunted down Tutsi and began killing them: start of genocide
• April 9 - The Rwandan Army arrives at Rusesabagina’s house, and demands that Paul come and opens the Diplomates, since he is the manager. Paul brings 32 ‘’family members’’ with him, but eventually the Army general catches on to his ploy. Rusesabagina ultimately negotiates a price to pay for them all (one million French francs) in order so that they aren’t killed and end up safe inside the Diplomates.
• April 11 – Belgium withdrew peacekeepers
• April 12 - Rusesabagina is then named official interim manager of the Mille Collines in order that he can retrieve the master keys to the hotel
• April 15 – UN security withdrew international forces; went from 2500 troops to 270 troops. Rusesabagina ordered for hotel protection in an interview with a Belgian newspaper at the Mille Collines luxury hotel where he was hotel manager of  Rwandan authorities provided National Police at the hotel
• April 16 - Rusesabagina requests for security from the UN General Romeo Dallaire but it failed
• April 23 - Department of Military Intelligence, named Iyakamuremye, ordered for a half hour for Rusesabagina to turn out everyone. The hotel surrounded by military and militia so he called influential persons abroad. The calls were relayed to representatives of Sabena. One of the foreign authorities called from the hotel was the Director General of the French Foreign Ministry; a colonel from the National Police arrived and made the lieutenant leave.
• May 3 - The UN attempts to evacuate the Mille Collines as a part of the deal with the Hutu government and only those with invitations from people abroad could leave the hotel in the UN trucks. Rusesabagina compiles a list of those specific people, which included his own family but he decides to stay at the hotel to protect the refugees. The UN envoy is attacked shortly after leaving the hotel but they succeed in getting back to the hotel.
• May 13 - Rwandan Army Intelligence Agent meets with Rusesabagina and is told that later that afternoon there will be an attack on the hotel. Rusesabagina frantically made calls and later that night there was a rocket that shot through the hotel just above the second floor; no one was injured.
• May 26 - A second attempt at an evacuation of select refugees is made, but instead of going to the airport, the destination, this time around, is a hill behind RPF lines. It is a more organized effort than the first, and ultimately is successful. Paul’s family, this time, does not leaves with the convoy, because Paul does not trust the UN or the rebels to protect them after the first botched attempt.
• June 17 - Rusesabagina leaves the hotel to meet with General Bizimungu; he is a commander of the National Police at the Diplomates hotel. They receive news the Rwandan militia and Interahamwe had entered the Mille Collines. Bizimungu and Rusesabagina go back and Bizimungu ordered to halt the mass execution. The militia reluctantly followed Bizimungu’s orders and filed out of the hotel for the last time. This resulted in a joint order provided by the UN, RPF, and Rwandan Army that ordered an evacuation of the hotel.
• June 18 - The Hotel Mille Collines was evacuated and not one person that was a refugee was killed or harmed in any way by militia.
• 1996 – Paul and his family leave for Brussels, Belgium to have a new life.