Initial Events of The Rwandan Genocide - The Crisis Committee Meets (6th)

The Crisis Committee Meets (6th)

For details of the assassination and events in the minutes immediately afterward, see Assassination of Habyarimana and Ntaryamira.

At approximately 8:20 pm on April 6, 1994, the plane carrying Rwandan President Juvénal Habyarimana, Rwandan Armed Forces (FAR) Chief of Staff Deogratias Nsabimana, and other prominent figures was shot down while approaching Kigali International Airport. Defence Minister Augustin Bizimana was in Cameroon attending a meeting, along with Col. Aloys Ntiwiragabo, head of army intelligence, G-2. Approximately one-and-a-half to two hours after the crash, the officers at army headquarters in Kigali realized that they had to decide whom to appoint the new army chief of staff and somberly gathered in a meeting room. Soon after Col. Théoneste Bagosora, director of the office of the minister of defence, arrived and stated that it was his responsibility to chair the meeting. Bagosora had a poor reputation as a military man, having received his appointment due to his political connections in the governing MRND party. One colonel suggested that Major-General Augustin Ndindiliyimana, chief of the staff of the National Gendarmerie, would be a more appropriate choice, but Ndindiliyimana declined to take responsibility, to the astonishment of some officers.

There was widespread fear of a power vacuum. Prime Minister Agathe Uwilingiyimana was next in the line of political succession but most officers believed that she was not capable of governing; Bagosora dismissed the option of putting themselves under the authority of Uwiligiyimana. There was discussion about abiding by the Arusha Accords, but this would require consulting with the rebel Rwandan Patriotic Front on the next steps. Bagosora suggested that the military should take over, but received the support of only one officer, Lt-Col Cyprien Kayumba, director of Defense Ministry financial services. Most officers were desperate to avoid the impression of a coup d'état. Someone commented that the Accords were still in effect and the United Nations remained in the country. The officers agreed to contact the United Nations Assistance Mission for Rwanda (UNAMIR) and invite General Roméo Dallaire, UNAMIR Force Commander, to the meeting to show that a coup was not being carried out.