Interahamwe

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The Interahamwe ( Kinyarwanda : “those who stick together” or “fight together”) was originally a paramilitary fighting organization of the Rwandan state party MRND , which was founded around 1990, during the reign of the head of state Juvénal Habyarimana , but later became one of the most important forces the extremist Hutu power that propagated the murder of all Tutsi.

Role in genocide

In 1994 this Hutu troop, around 30,000 strong, formed the strongest formation among the numerous militias involved in the genocide in Rwanda and led, together with the smaller Impuzamugambi from the CDR , the Incuba militia from the MDR , the Abakombozi militia from the PSD and other militias to a large extent the genocide of the Tutsi in Rwanda. She was supported by the Rwandan army, with the actual training of the Interahamwe lasting several years, with the aim of carrying out the genocide planned by the Rwandan government at the time. The role of France in this has not yet been clarified. There is no longer any doubt that France was involved in the training of the Interahamwe. Only the extent is unclear, ie which weapons were passed on, what money was poured and how the militias were trained.

During the genocide of the Tutsi in Rwanda, the Interahamwe murdered and mutilated hundreds of thousands of people, mostly with machetes and clubs. The Interahamwe erected roadblocks at all important points, where they murdered all Tutsi who tried to flee.

After 1994, the militia merged into armed guerrilla groups belonging to the Hutu power without ever being formally dissolved.

After the genocide

After the end of the genocide in 1994, the Interahamwe fled with significant parts of the Hutu population to the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo , where they set up bases in the refugee camps . From there she took action against Tutsi and Banyamulenge and was responsible for several massacres of them.

In these refugee camps, in which many people responsible for the genocide from the ranks of the Forces Armées Rwandaises (FAR) lived, these active participants in the genocide, known as Génocidaires , reorganized themselves . The new organization in which the Interahamwe was merged was initially the Rassemblement Démocratique pour le Rwanda , which was named Armée de Liberation du Rwanda (ALiR) after the inclusion of larger contingents of Hutu from the Congo .

Leadership figures

The leader of the Interahamwe at the time of the genocide was Robert Kajuga . While his mother was a Hutu, his Tutsi-born father had his identity changed to Hutu. Kajuga died of illness in exile in the Democratic Republic of the Congo at the end of 1994. His deputy, Georges Rutaganda , was found guilty of genocide , crimes against humanity and murder by the International Court of Justice for Rwanda , and was sentenced to life imprisonment in 2003 .

Bernard Munyagishari is considered one of the founders and leaders of the Interahamwe.

Ephraim Nkezabera, the so-called “banker of the genocide”, was arrested in Brussels in 2004 , where he was staying with relatives. In addition to various war crimes, the former bank director was also accused of having financed and equipped the Interahamwe militias and involved in financing the notorious radio station Radio-Télévision Libre des Mille Collines . In 2009 he was sentenced to 30 years in prison by a Belgian court for war crimes.

In May 2020, the French police arrested Félicien Kabuga , who was under a false identity in Asnières-sur-Seine and wanted by an international arrest warrant . The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda had indicted him on charges of establishing and funding Interahamwe.

See also

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ France's Role in the Rwandan Genocide , dw.com, April 9, 2015
  2. ↑ Life sentence for Rwandan genocide leader , theguardian.com, December 7, 1999
  3. ↑ Rwandan militia chief caught. In: the daily newspaper . May 26, 2011. Retrieved May 26, 2011 .
  4. ^ Rwanda banker gets 30-year sentence for war crimes , reuters.com, December 1, 2009
  5. ↑ Nkezabera's trial to start afresh in Belgian court , newtimes.co.rw, March 6, 2010
  6. ↑ DER SPIEGEL: Félicien Kabuga: Suspected mastermind of the genocide in Rwanda arrested - DER SPIEGEL - Politics. Retrieved May 16, 2020 .