Radio-Télévision Libre des Milles Collines

Radio Télévision Libre des Mille Collines (RTLM) was a Rwandan radio station which broadcast from July, 1993 to July 31, 1994. It played a significant role during the April–July 1994 Rwandan Genocide.

The station's name is French for "Thousand Hills Free Radio and Television", deriving from the description of Rwanda as "Land of a Thousand Hills". It received support from the government-controlled Radio Rwanda, which initially allowed it to transmit using their equipment.

Widely listened to by the general population, it projected racist propaganda against Tutsis, moderate Hutus, Belgians, and the United Nations mission UNAMIR. It is widely regarded by many Rwandan citizens (a view also shared and expressed by the UN war crimes tribunal) as having played a crucial role in creating the atmosphere of charged racial hostility that allowed the genocide to occur. A study by a Harvard University researcher estimates that 9.9% of the participation in the genocidal violence was due to the broadcasts. The estimate of the study suggests that approximately 51,000 deaths were caused by the station's broadcasts. A working paper published at Harvard University found that RTLM broadcasts were an important part of the process of mobilising the population, which complemented the mandatory Umuganda meetings.

Planning for RTLM begun in 1992 by Hutu hard-liners, in response to the increasingly non-partisan stance of Radio Rwanda and growing popularity of Rwandan Patriotic Front's (RPF) Radio Muhabura. RTLM was established the next year, and began broadcasting in July 1993. The station railed against the on-going peace talks between the predominantly Tutsi RPF and President Juvenal Habyarimana, whose family supported the radio station. It became a popular station since it offered frequent contemporary musical selections, unlike state radio, and quickly developed a faithful audience among youth-aged Rwandans, who later made up the bulk of the Interahamwe militia.

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