Auto Defense Civile proves genocide against Tutsi was no spontaneous act

At the height of the genocide, in early June 1994, the Kambanda government also revived the “Auto-defense Civile” programme to accelerate the extermination of the remaining Tutsi.

Many genocide perpetrators, genocide deniers and their backers often advance the theory that the mass killings of the Tutsi, 27 years ago, were triggered by a sudden rage by the Hutu following the shooting down of President Habyarimana’s plane on April 6, 1994. The 1994 genocide which claimed more than one million Tutsi was not accidental. It was meticulously planned and carried out by Hutu extremists.

One key element of this planification was the creation of what was called “Auto-Defense Civile”, an operation which was aimed at killing the Tutsi throughout the whole country. It consisted of selecting reliable and capable Hutu youths for military training. Upon completing the course, they would return to their respective communes of origin. They would be supplied with weapons to train other youths to use to massacre the so-called enemies, the Tutsi.

According to the National Commission for the Fight against Genocide (CNLG), the idea of putting in place the “Auto-defense Civile” was not a new idea. It was first initiated by President Juvenal Habyarimana in 1991, shortly after the launch of the RPF Liberation War, in October 1990.

The French officer, Lt Col Gilbert Canovas, who was an adviser to the Commander-in-Chief of the government forces  wrote in his report dated April 30, 1991 suggesting that “there is need to arm and train ordinary citizens from Umutara area, especially in the former Muvumba and Rutare communes.” It is alleged that there was another meeting on July 9, 1991, chaired by Gen Augustin Ndindiriyimana, Minister of Internal Security, which brought together officials from the military and the presidency. It was concluded that “citizens should be provided with enough equipment to fight for national sovereignty so that no one will dare attack the country again in the future.”

As time passed-by, the enemy was clearly defined as “no longer in Uganda only, but inside the country too.” The Tutsi population was therefore seen as the fifth column. The CNLG report indicates that President Habyarimana himself  gave a green light for arming ordinary citizens to kill the Tutsi seen as “the enemy of Rwanda” who must be “sought and killed”.

Another document was prepared and secretly published on September 21, 1992. It was signed by Colonel Deogratias Nsabimana, the former Commander in Chief of the Rwandan armed Forces. He shared it with President Habyarimana, the military and gendarmery leaders across the country so that it can be taught to the soldiers and gendarmes.  That document is one of the highlights of the Genocide against the Tutsi preparation by the government which actively disseminated genocide ideology material.

In line with implementing this murderous strategy, on September 29, 1991, Col Deogratias Nsabimana, who was Chief of Defence Staff in Mutara informed the Minister of Defence about the distribution of weapons to citizens of that region. A total of 1,760 arms were reportedly handed out.

In late January 1993 and early February 1993, Col Theoneste Bagosora also led an operation to distribute weapons in the northern parts of the country. He was accused at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) of handing out 500 arms to civilians in Mutura, Giciye, Rubavu and Rwerere communes in former Gisenyi prefecture.

As soon as the RPF deployed 600 troops in Kigali on December 28, 1993, the Rwanda government and its forces were not happy and started genocide mobilisation by intensifying Interahamwe militias training and consolidating the “Auto-defense Civile”.  According to CNLG’s  report, as part of accelerating this programme, the regime deployed high-ranking military officers to coordinate the build-up of this scheme.

Hutu youths were selected for military training and were given guns, ammunition, and grenades. But the government also set up a mechanism to buy machetes and distribute them to the public in a short period of time.

Those machetes were used by the killers during the Genocide. In February 1994, an employee of the British company CHILLINGTON confirmed that their company had already sold many machetes to Rwanda in a few months, more than those which had been imported throughout the entire 1993. Documents for import licenses reviewed by Human Rights Watch between January 1993 and March 1994 show that 581 tons of machetes were imported into Rwanda. The imported machetes cost Rwf95 million donated by one Félicien Kabuga.

According to British Newspaper, The Sunday Times of November 24, 1996, between August and December 1993, CHILLINGTON sold other machetes to two employees of the Rwandan company called RWANDEX, Eugène Mbarushimana and François Burasa. Mbarushimana who was an employee of RWANDEX was the son-in-law of Kabuga and the Secretary General of the Interahamwe at national level.

Burasa was a retired soldier and a member of the Hutu extremist party the Coalition for the Defence of the Republic (CDR), and a brother of Jean Bosco Barayagwiza, one of the party's top leaders. The acquisitions and distribution of machetes among civilians who had been given military training was part of the "auto defense civile" program identified in the Bagosora agenda.

British author and journalist, Linda Melvern, has also detailed the planning for a possible genocide. After combing through bank archives and government documents she reveals, for instance, that in 1993 the government of Rwanda imported, from China, three quarters of a million dollars’ worth of machetes - enough for one new machete for every third male.

At the height of the genocide, in early June 1994, the Kambanda government also revived the “Auto-defense Civile” programme to accelerate the extermination of the remaining Tutsi.

According to the CNLG report,  a diary belonging to Pauline Nyiramasuhuko, then Minister for Family Welfare and the advancement of Women, indicated that on June 10, 1994, a government meeting was held to review several issues. But the hot topic on the agenda was how “auto-defense civile '' would be expedited countrywide. It was agreed that to obtain sufficient firearms, each trader was required to purchase at least two firearms, one belonging to him and the other to the neighbours in the area where he lived. It was also decided that these guns be distributed in schools so that each school has 10 guns.

The meeting also pointed out that there is a need to put more effort into "auto-defense civile" in Gisenyi Prefecture because it was not carried out to the desired level. However, they were happy with how it was being carried out in Butare Prefecture and hence an extra Rwf 2 million was given to Butare to continue the program. In addition, serving military officers or retired ones were put in charge of coordinating the operation of eliminating the remaining Tutsi in different parts of the country.