Background and prelude Assassination of Juvénal Habyarimana and Cyprien Ntaryamira

rwandan president juvénal habyarimana in 1980

the security situation deteriorated throughout 1993. armed hutu militias attacked tutsis throughout country, while high-ranking adherents of hutu power began consider how security forces might turned genocide. in february 1994, roméo dallaire, head of military force attached united nations assistance mission rwanda (unamir), had been sent observe implementation of arusha accords, informed superiors, time seem running out political discussions, spark on security side have catastrophic consequences.

in united nations security council, april 1994 saw sharp disagreement between united states , non-permanent members of council on unamir. despite classified february central intelligence agency (cia) analysis predicting half million deaths if arusha process failed, u.s. attempting reduce international commitments in wake of somalia debacle , lobbied end mission. compromise extending unamir s mandate 3 more months reached on evening of tuesday, fifth of april. meanwhile, habyarimana finishing regional travel. on april 4, had flown zaire meet president mobutu sese seko , on sixth flew dar es salaam, tanzania one-day regional summit heads of state convened tanzania s president. on return trip evening joined burundian president cyprien ntaryamira, , couple of ministers, preferred faster dassault falcon 50 french government had given habyarimana on ntaryamira s own presidential plane.

according interim prime minister jean kambanda s testimony ictr, president mobutu sese seko of neighboring zaire (now drc) had warned habyarimana not go dar es salaam on april 6. mobutu reportedly said warning had come senior official in elysée palace in paris. there link between warning, said mobutu, , subsequent suicide in elysée of françois de grossouvre, senior high-ranking official working president françois mitterrand, official had killed himself on april 7 after learning downing of falcon.