Regional
How Kagame masterminded RPA’s decisive campaign against Genocide within hours
When
the Genocide against the Tutsi started 28 years ago today, the then Rwanda
Patriotic Army (RPA) maintained a 600-strong force at CND (Conseil National de
Développement – present-day Parliamentary Buildings at Kimihurura) whose
mission was to protect Rwanda Patriotic Front (RPF) politicians in
Kigali.
The
RPF politicians, who were also based at CND – which had a hotel wing –, had
been expected to join a proposed broad-based transitional government and
national assembly as part of the Arusha Accords between the RPF and the Juvenal
Habyarimana government.
But
the deal collapsed when a group of radical figures within Habyarimana’s
powerful Akazu (inner circle) turned against him and ordered an attack on his
plane as it approached Kigali International Airport on April 6 – killing him
and his entourage.
Analysts
say this was designed to create pretext to execute a pre-planned agenda to
commit genocide against the Tutsi.
“It
was around 8p.m when the president’s plane crashed,” says Médard Bashana,
Manager of the Campaign Against Genocide Museum. “Propagandists immediately
started circulating rumours that the RPF, with support from the Belgians, were
responsible for the attack.
“RTLM
(hate radio) was already inciting citizens and was mentioning names of
potential victims and where they were allegedly hiding,” he recalls.
Located
at the Parliamentary Buildings (former CND), the Campaign Against Genocide
Museum tells the extraordinary story of RPA’s operations against the ex-FAR
(Forces Armées Rwandaises) and its rescue efforts shortly after the genocidal
machine was set in motion.
Predawn
attacks
“By
dawn April 7, there were roadblocks everywhere and prominent Tutsi and moderate
Hutu politicians were being killed,” observes Bashana. Some of the early
victims include then Prime Minister Agathe Uwilingiyimana, Constitutional Court
president Joseph Kavaruganda, Frederick Nzamurambaho, Landoard ‘Lando’
Ndasingwa, among others.
“They
had also started attacking ordinary Tutsi families across the country.”
On
the same morning, Col. Théoneste Bagosora, arguably the chief mastermind of the
Genocide, chaired a crisis meeting which was attended by senior officials and
some diplomats, including envoys of France, Belgium, Germany and Tanzania.
At
the meeting, Col. Augustin Ndindiliyimana was named interim leader before he
was replaced with Gen Marcel Gatsinzi, who was also removed shortly after.
The
RPF/A, who were at the time still making sense of what was going on, were
effectively sidelined from any transitional arrangement and their CND-based
politicians and troops found themselves in the eye of the storm.
A statue of two artillery RPA soldiers engaging the enemy at the rooftop of the Parliament Buildings. They were particularly fending off attacks from Camp GP in Kimihurura.
Soon,
ex-FAR forces at Camp GP and Camp Kacyiru started shelling CND. The building
was also bombarded by relentless long-range firepower from ex-FAR positions at
Mt Rebero, Mt Kigali and Mt Jali.
“Direct
assault on the building started at around 8a.m,” says Bashana. “The intention
was now clear to the RPF/A; they wanted to annihilate RPF politicians and RPA
soldiers who were right in the middle of enemy territory and they had launched
the Genocide against the Tutsi.”
Paul
Kagame, then Chairman of the RPA High Command, who was based at the RPA
Headquarters at Mulindi in present-day Gicumbi District, 76km north of the
capital Kigali, had to make a quick decision.
It
was around midday on April 7 when he phoned Gen Roméo Dallaire, the Canadian commander
of the United Nations Assistance Mission for Rwanda (UNAMIR), asking him to
intervene and stop the killings. Dallaire replied that he was powerless to do
anything as his force was both thin on the ground and lacked the mandate to
engage militarily.
The 3rd Battalion receives reinforcement on April 11, three days after fighting broke out.
Frustrated
by the lack of action from the UN force despite spreading violence, at around
3p.m on April 7, Kagame issued an order to his troops to quickly swing into
action.
The
mission was to stop the Genocide against the Tutsi, defeat genocidal forces, and
rescue victims of the Genocide.
“The
strategic end state was to achieve a situation whereby genocide is stopped,
genocidal regime is overthrown and peace is restored across the country,”
Bashana points out.
Kagame
ordered the 600 troops of the 3rd Battalion at CND, commanded by Charles
Kayonga, to break out from their positions with a view to defend themselves,
rescue victims in their vicinity, and to contain advancing genocidal forces and
Interahamwe militia.
The
3rd battalion immediately launched a counteroffensive in four companies: Eagle,
commanded by George Rwigamba; Chui, commanded by Rugambwa; Tiger, under Andrew
Kagame; and Simba, under Aloys Gapfizi.
Each
was assigned a specific axis.
How
the ‘600’ stopped the enemy in their tracks
Eagle
advanced eastwards toward Amahoro National Stadium in Remera with a mission to
rescue thousands of people who had been trapped and abandoned there. Roughly an
hour later, they had defeated enemy units and managed to rescue about 5000
people at the sports complex.
Chui
was tasked to engage and contain advancing presidential guards from Camp GP,
less than a kilometre south of CND; Tiger headed northwest to confront
advancing Gendarmerie units from Camp Kacyiru; while Simba took the northeast
axis to repulse attacks by military police units from Camp Kami.
“They
were surrounded and the idea was to stop the enemy in their tracks,” explains
Bashana. “Otherwise, if they had found them at CND they would have crushed them
and the politicians they were protecting.”
The
strategy would soon see RPA control a zone stretching to former Iposita (around
Kigali Heights) to the south, King Faisal Hospital (northwest) and Mukabuga Ka
Nyarutarama (north) and to Amahoro Stadium and Prince House to the east and the
Rugando area. “It created an area through which rescue operations would be
possible and it delayed advancing (government) forces.”
At
the same time, they mounted a 12.7mm heavy machine gun on the CND rooftop to
help deter enemy advances from Camp GP and Camp Kacyiru. The weapon was one of
the two higher caliber guns the RPA had been allowed to have at CND when they
first deployed their protection force there on December 28, 1993.
Operated
by David Rwabinumi, the gun was instrumental in keeping the enemy at bay
between April 7 and April 21, notes Bashana.
Reinforcements
arrive
In
the meantime, Kagame also ordered the bulk of the RPA forces in and around
Byumba (Gicumbi) to advance.
Kagame,
then fondly referred to as Afande PC, first met all the top commanders at his
Mulindi headquarters and briefed them about the new multipronged mission on
April 7, hours after it became clear extremists within government had violently
overthrown Habyarimana and launched a genocide.
He
formed larger formations in the form of Combined Mobile Forces or simply Mobile
Forces.
He
tasked three Combined Mobile Forces – Alpha (under the command of Sam Kaka),
Bravo (Twahirwa Dodo) and 59th (Charles Ngoga) – to head straight to the
capital Kigali to reinforce the 3rd battalion. They were not to engage the enemy
along the way to avoid losing time.
Kagame
would later in the day leave his base and travel to Miyove where he met the
forces of the three Combined Mobile Forces (CMFs) for a briefing before
departure.
“He
wanted to personally assess the physical morale of the forces and to deliver
the message about their mission himself,” says Bashana. The three CMFs would
begin their advance toward Kigali that same night with the sole mission of
linking up with the ‘600’ in Kigali. They marched through the rugged terrain of
the northern region and arrived at CND four days later (at around 3p.m on April
11), and found the ‘600’ still holding their ground.
Meanwhile,
five other CMFs also started advancing shortly after the ‘reinforcement force’
had left. Attacking in multipronged offensives, these forces had a broader task
which included “engaging, defeating and dislodging” the enemy, as well as
rescuing Genocide victims.
Multipronged
offensives
Charles
Musitu and Charles Muhire commanded the 21st and 101st mobile forces, respectively,
both of them taking the main central axis – the same direction as Alpha,
Bravo and 59th CMFs – heading to Kigali.
Fred
Ibingira and William Bagire led the 157th and the 7th Combined Mobile Forces,
respectively, both advancing southeast of Byumba.
Kagame
also put Thadee Gashumba in charge of Charlie mobile force, which advanced via
the northwestern axis, ensuring the enemy was engaged on multiple fronts across
the country.
A
Combined Mobile Force comprised anywhere between 1200 and 1500 troops. This
formation allowed each mobile force to be more agile, with capabilities to
launch offensives and reinforce itself when needed, and to conduct rescue
operations and treat casualties at the same time.
Throughout
the liberation struggle the Chairman of High Command changed strategy and
military formations depending on the situation and tasks at hand and this kept
the enemy guessing, says Bashana.
Shortly
after the forces moved to stop the killings and liberate the country, Kagame
relocated from Mulindi and continued to direct the campaign through to July.
Source:
www.newtimes.co.rw