Rwandan Civil War

Map of Rwanda with towns and roads

Date	1 October 1990 – 4 August 1993 (first phase, ended by the Arusha Accords) 7 April − 18 July 1994 (second phase, during the genocide)
Location	Rwanda
Result	Rwandan Patriotic Front victory

Belligerents

Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF)

Rwandan Armed Forces (FAR)

Zaire (1990-1991)

France (until 1993)

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

The Rwandan Civil War was a conflict in the African republic of Rwanda, between the Rwandan Armed Forces (FAR), representing the government of President Juvénal Habyarimana, and the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), a rebel group composed mostly of refugees who had been resident in Uganda. 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, ending on 4 August 1993, with the signing of the Arusha Accords. The second phase began following the assassination of Habyarimana and the outbreak of the Rwandan genocide. The RPF resumed fighting on 7 April 1994, 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 both the German and Belgian colonial authorities, who 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 they were not capable of mounting a serious attack. In the late 1980s, Fred Rwigyema and Paul Kagame, Rwandan Tutsi refugees and officers in the Ugandan army, took over leadership of the RPF and organised it into a battle ready military force.

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