Assassination of Juvénal Habyarimana and Cyprien Ntaryamira

The 6 April 1994 shootdown of a plane carrying Rwandan president Juvénal Habyarimana and Burundian president Cyprien Ntaryamira. The killings precipitated the Rwandan genocide and renewed civil war.

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Rwandan Civil War: A 1990–1994 conflict between the Rwandan government and the Rwandan Patriotic Front, ending formally with the Arusha Accords. The plane was returning from regional talks as this war’s fragile settlement unraveled.
Rwandan Genocide: The 1994 mass murder of Tutsi and moderate Hutu in Rwanda, during which an estimated 800,000 people were killed. The assassinations became the immediate pretext for the genocide’s launch.
Juvénal Habyarimana: Rwanda’s president from 1973 until his death in the 6 April 1994 plane crash. His death removed the head of state whose return flight became the target of the attack.
Habyarimana Assassination Theories: Competing accounts of who planned and carried out the 6 April 1994 attack on Habyarimana’s aircraft. Investigations and political claims have attributed the shootdown to different Rwandan factions.
Arusha Accords: A 1993 peace agreement intended to end Rwanda’s civil war through power-sharing and military integration. Habyarimana had attended talks concerning implementation of the agreement shortly before the crash.
Ten Belgian UN Peacekeepers: Ten Belgian soldiers serving with the United Nations Assistance Mission for Rwanda, murdered on 7 April 1994. Their killing followed the crash and helped prompt Belgium to withdraw its forces.
Theoneste Bagosora: A senior Rwandan military officer convicted by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda for genocide and related crimes. His role in the post-crash power struggle and violence was examined at the tribunal.
Akazu: An informal network of relatives and associates around Habyarimana’s wife, Agathe, often alleged to have wielded influence in Rwanda. Some accounts connect hard-line members of this circle to planning the assassination.
Rwandan Patriotic Front: A political and military movement led by Tutsi exiles that fought Rwanda’s government and took power in 1994. Its advance during the civil war shaped the political crisis surrounding the attack.
United Nations Assistance Mission for Rwanda: A United Nations peacekeeping mission established in 1993 to monitor implementation of the Arusha Accords. The mission was present when violence erupted but lacked authority and resources to stop it.