Théodore Sindikubwabo

Théodore Sindikubwabo (* 1928 in Butare ; † probably 1998 ) was a Rwandan pediatrician and politician. Sindikubwabo served as the country's interim president in the summer of 1994 following the death of Juvénal Habyarimana .

Sindikubwabo was first president of the National Assembly. On the evening of April 8, 1994, two days after President Juvénal Habyarimana was murdered when the presidential plane was shot down, he declared himself his successor in a radio address. A day later he was sworn in as president.

During Sindikubwabo's tenure, the clashes between the Hutu and the Tutsi reached a bloody climax. The genocide in Rwanda killed around 800,000 people within 100 days. On July 19, 1994, Sindikubwabo handed over the office to Pasteur Bizimungu .

Genocide proceedings against third parties

Sindikubwabo played a decisive legal role in the acquittal of two ministers in the Provisional Cabinet in February 2013 by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda in Arusha , even after his death. On April 17, 1994, a cabinet meeting chaired by him decided to dismiss the prefect of the second largest southern city of Butare. The prefect, a Hutu, refused to order massacres and was replaced by the Minister for Women and Family, Pauline Nyiramasuhuko , who also came from Butare. On April 19, Sindikubwabo gave a speech in which he publicly announced his release and at the same time called for the massacre to continue. The prefect was presumably murdered. That was the beginning of the genocide in Butare .

Those acquitted in the second instance were present at both events. In the first instance, the former Trade Minister Justin Mugenzi and the former Minister for Public Service, Prosper Mugiraneza, were convicted of conspiracy to commit genocide on September 30, 2011. Two other ministers, former Foreign Minister Casimir Bizimungu and former Health Minister Jérôme Bicamumpaka, had been acquitted for lack of evidence.

The second instance said in 2013 that there could have been “political and administrative reasons” for the prefect's dismissal. It has not been proven that the prefect of Butare was dismissed with the aim of paving the way for genocide there too. The two ministers now acquitted could not have known beforehand what Sindikubwabo would say on both occasions.

Individual evidence

↑ Alison Des Forges : "Leave none to tell the story". Genocide in Rwanda . Ed .: Human Rights Watch . New York / Washington / London / Brussels 1999, ISBN 1-56432-171-1 , pp. 277 (American English, [ hrw.org ] [PDF; 4.0 MB ; accessed on May 4, 2014]).
↑ Alison Des Forges : "Leave none to tell the story". Genocide in Rwanda . Ed .: Human Rights Watch . New York / Washington / London / Brussels 1999, ISBN 1-56432-171-1 , The Organization, pp. 333 u. 495 (American English, [ hrw.org ] [PDF; 4.0 MB ; accessed on May 4, 2014]).
↑ Dominic Johnson : First guilty, then not. UN tribunal changes opinion . In: taz . February 5, 2013, ISSN 0931-9085 , p. 10 ( taz.de [accessed on May 5, 2014]).

personal data
SURNAME	Sindikubwabo, Théodore
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Rwandan politician and interim president
DATE OF BIRTH	1928
PLACE OF BIRTH	Butare
DATE OF DEATH	uncertain: 1998

[1] Alison Des Forges : "Leave none to tell the story". Genocide in Rwanda . Ed .: Human Rights Watch . New York / Washington / London / Brussels 1999, ISBN 1-56432-171-1 , pp. 277 (American English, [ hrw.org ] [PDF; 4.0 MB ; accessed on May 4, 2014]).

[2] Alison Des Forges : "Leave none to tell the story". Genocide in Rwanda . Ed .: Human Rights Watch . New York / Washington / London / Brussels 1999, ISBN 1-56432-171-1 , The Organization, pp. 333 u. 495 (American English, [ hrw.org ] [PDF; 4.0 MB ; accessed on May 4, 2014]).

[taz-3] Dominic Johnson : First guilty, then not. UN tribunal changes opinion . In: taz . February 5, 2013, ISSN 0931-9085 , p. 10 ( taz.de [accessed on May 5, 2014]).