Civil war in Rwanda

Rwandan Civil War
Map of Rwanda with towns and roads
Date 1 October 1990 − 18 July 1994 (3 years, 9 months, 2 weeks and 4 days) Location Rwanda Result Rwandan Patriotic Front victory Arusha Accords signed End of the Rwandan genocide
Belligerents
Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF)	Rwandan Armed Forces (FAR)  Zaire (1990–1991) France (until 1994) Interahamwe Impuzamugambi
Commanders and leaders
Fred Rwigyema † Paul Kagame	Juvénal Habyarimana † Théoneste Bagosora Augustin Bizimungu
Strength
20,000 RPF	35,000 FAR
Casualties and losses
5,000 killed	5,000 killed

Rwandan Patriotic Front victory

The Rwandan Civil War was a conflict in the African republic of Rwanda, between the Rwandan Armed Forces (FAR) and the rebel Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF). The war was fought in two phases. The first phase began on 1 October 1990, with an RPF invasion of the north east of the country from Uganda. This phase ended on 4 August 1993, with the signing of the Arusha Accords. The second phase took place following the assassination of President Juvénal Habyarimana on 6 April 1994, and the outbreak of the Rwandan genocide. The RPF resumed fighting on 7 April, and the civil war ended with an RPF victory on 18 July 1994.

The war had its origins in the long-running dispute between the Hutu and Tutsi groups within the Rwandan population. The ancient Kingdom of Rwanda, ruled by Tutsi kings, began implementing increasingly anti-Hutu policies in the 19th century, a trend continued by European colonial authorities from 1895. Both Germany and Belgium ruled through the kings and favoured the Tutsi. The Hutu population revolted in 1959, with the support of Belgium, which had effected a sudden reversal of allegiance. Hutu activists burned Tutsi homes, killed those who fought back, and ultimately established an independent, Hutu-dominated state in 1962. The revolution forced more than 100,000 Tutsi to seek refuge in neighbouring countries. These refugees lived in exile for several decades, agitating for a return to Rwanda, but were not capable of mounting a serious attack. Some refugees, including future RPF leaders Fred Rwigyema and Paul Kagame, fought in the Ugandan Bush War with Yoweri Museveni, becoming senior army officers in 1986 under Museveni's presidency. Relations between the refugees and the Ugandans soured in the late 1980s with Rwigyema and Kagame demoted, but Hutu president Habyarimana refused to allow the return of refugees. This created a strong desire among refugees to return by force, so Rwigyema and Kagame used their military expertise to turn the RPF into a battle-ready army.

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