Colonel
Théoneste Bagosora (born August 16, 1941) is a former
RwandaThe Republic of Rwanda is a small landlocked country in the Great Lakes region of east-central Africa, bordered by Uganda, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Tanzania. Home to approaching 10 million people, Rwanda supports the densest population in continental Africa, most of whom...
n military officer. He is chiefly known for his role in the 1994
Rwandan GenocideThe Rwandan Genocide was the 1994 mass killing of hundreds of thousands of Rwanda's Tutsis and Hutu political moderates by Hutus under the Hutu Power ideology. Over the course of approximately 100 days, from the assassination of Juvénal Habyarimana on 6 April through mid-July, at least 500,000...
.
Bagosora was born in Giciye commune, Gisenyi préfecture, in
RwandaThe Republic of Rwanda is a small landlocked country in the Great Lakes region of east-central Africa, bordered by Uganda, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Tanzania. Home to approaching 10 million people, Rwanda supports the densest population in continental Africa, most of whom...
, of
HutuThe Hutu are a Central African ethnic group, living mainly in Rwanda and Burundi.-Population statistics:Despite the 1972 Burundi Genocide where an estimated 100,000...
ethnicity. In 1964, he graduated from the
École des officiers (Officers' School) in
KigaliKigali, population 851,024 , is the capital and largest city of Rwanda. It is situated in the centre of the nation, and has been the economic, cultural, and transport hub of Rwanda since it became capital at independence in 1962. The main residence and offices of the President of Rwanda are located...
with the rank of 2
nd lieutenant, and continued his studies in
FranceFrance , officially the French Republic , is a country located in Western Europe, with several overseas islands and territories located on other continents. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean...
. During his military career he served as second-in-command of the
École supérieure militaire (Superior Military School) in Kigali and as commander of Kanombe military camp.
He was appointed to the position of
directeur du cabinet (Director of the Cabinet) in Rwanda's Ministry of Defence in June 1992.
Colonel
Théoneste Bagosora (born August 16, 1941) is a former
RwandaThe Republic of Rwanda is a small landlocked country in the Great Lakes region of east-central Africa, bordered by Uganda, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Tanzania. Home to approaching 10 million people, Rwanda supports the densest population in continental Africa, most of whom...
n military officer. He is chiefly known for his role in the 1994
Rwandan GenocideThe Rwandan Genocide was the 1994 mass killing of hundreds of thousands of Rwanda's Tutsis and Hutu political moderates by Hutus under the Hutu Power ideology. Over the course of approximately 100 days, from the assassination of Juvénal Habyarimana on 6 April through mid-July, at least 500,000...
.
History and career
Bagosora was born in Giciye commune, Gisenyi préfecture, in
RwandaThe Republic of Rwanda is a small landlocked country in the Great Lakes region of east-central Africa, bordered by Uganda, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Tanzania. Home to approaching 10 million people, Rwanda supports the densest population in continental Africa, most of whom...
, of
HutuThe Hutu are a Central African ethnic group, living mainly in Rwanda and Burundi.-Population statistics:Despite the 1972 Burundi Genocide where an estimated 100,000...
ethnicity. In 1964, he graduated from the
École des officiers (Officers' School) in
KigaliKigali, population 851,024 , is the capital and largest city of Rwanda. It is situated in the centre of the nation, and has been the economic, cultural, and transport hub of Rwanda since it became capital at independence in 1962. The main residence and offices of the President of Rwanda are located...
with the rank of 2
nd lieutenant, and continued his studies in
FranceFrance , officially the French Republic , is a country located in Western Europe, with several overseas islands and territories located on other continents. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean...
. During his military career he served as second-in-command of the
École supérieure militaire (Superior Military School) in Kigali and as commander of Kanombe military camp.
He was appointed to the position of
directeur du cabinet (Director of the Cabinet) in Rwanda's Ministry of Defence in June 1992. Despite his official retirement from the military on September 23, 1993, he retained this portfolio until fleeing the country in July 1994.
Role in the genocide
Bagosora was born in the same northern region as
Juvénal HabyarimanaJuvénal Habyarimana was President of the Republic of Rwanda from 1973 until 1994. During his 20-year dictatorship he favored his own ethnic group, the Hutus, and supported the Hutu majority in neighboring Burundi against the Tutsi government...
, the president of Rwanda from 1973 to 1994. He was linked to
‘le Clan de Madame’, known later as the
akazuThe Akazu was an informal organization of Hutus with its basis on the former Rwandan president Juvénal Habyarimana and his influential wife Agathe Habyarimana, whose members, among others, are generally understood to be responsible for the 1994 Rwandan Genocide.The Akazu were Habyarimana's...
, a group associated with
Agathe HabyarimanaAgathe Habyarimana is the widow of former President of Rwanda Juvénal Habyarimana. Kanziga is part of a Hutu lineage that long ruled an independent principality until the late nineteenth century....
, the president’s wife, who was rumored to be a Hutu extremist and related to very powerful members of society. He displayed a lust for power that was well known among extremists.
Although he was present at the negotiations of the
Arusha AccordsThe Arusha Accords were a set of five accords signed in Arusha, Tanzania on August 4, 1993, by the government of Rwanda and the rebel Rwandan Patriotic Front , under mediation, to end a three-year long Rwandan Civil War...
in August, 1993, he never supported them and is widely cited as saying, once everything was signed, that he was returning to Rwanda to prepare for the apocalypse. Luc Marchal, a Belgian Colonel, who was
Romeo DallaireLieutenant-General Roméo Antonius Dallaire, OC, CMM, GOQ, MSC, CD is a Canadian senator, humanitarian, author and retired general...
’s Kigali sector commander, reported that Bagosora told him that the only way to solve Rwanda’s problems was to get rid of the
TutsiTutsi are one of three native peoples of the nations of Rwanda and Burundi in central Africa, the other two being the Twa and the Hutu.-Origins:...
.
Bagosora was responsible for establishing paramilitary ‘self-defense’ units, the
InterahamweThe Interahamwe is a Hutu paramilitary organization. The militia enjoyed the backing of the Hutu-led government leading up to, during, and after the Rwandan Genocide.-Organization and history:...
, that would operate in every commune in the country. These groups were to act in concert with the local police, militias, and military authorities. Bagosora was also responsible for distributing arms and machetes throughout Rwanda. Between January 1993 and March 1994 Rwanda imported more than 500,000 machetes, twice the number than imported in previous years. There were lists drawn up identifying people as enemies. The stage was set.
At about 8:15 pm on the evening of April 6, 1994, President Habyarimana was flying back to Kigali after a meeting when
his plane was struckThe assassination of Juvénal Habyarimana and Cyprien Ntaryamira on the evening of April 6, 1994 was the catalyst for the Rwandan Genocide. The airplane carrying Rwandan president Juvénal Habyarimana and Burundian president Cyprien Ntaryamira was shot down as it prepared to land in Kigali, Rwanda...
by two missiles fired from the ground. The plane crashed, killing everyone on board. While there is no conclusive evidence as to who is responsible for shooting down the plane, Colonel Bagosora and the
akazu remain at the center of the conspiracy. Nonetheless, news of the President’s death was broadcast and the killings began.
After the assassination, Colonel Bagosora along with Colonel Rwagafilita gathered supporters and convened a meeting of a Crisis Committee.
Romeo DallaireLieutenant-General Roméo Antonius Dallaire, OC, CMM, GOQ, MSC, CD is a Canadian senator, humanitarian, author and retired general...
, the UN commander was invited, and arrived to find the senior leadership of the Rwandan army. Dallaire rejected Bagosora’s proposal of having the military take control of the political situation until they could hand it over to the politicians and he reminded him that Rwanda still had a government headed by Prime Minister Agathe Uwilingiyimana. Bagosora responded that Madame Agathe was incapable of governing the nation. A few hours later, Madame Agathe was murdered with her husband by members of the Presidential Guard and the army. After Bagosora's failed attempt to have the military take over the role of government, the group proceeded to pick a provisional government. The interim government was a multiparty group, but all came from the hardliner sections of their respective parties.
MassacreMassacre may refer to:*List of events named massacres*Massacre, Dominica, a land on the island of Dominica in the Caribbean*Massacre , a DC Comics villain*Massacre, a 1956 Western starring Dane Clark*Massacre, an Argentine hardcore punk band...
s began all over the country. Many prominent Tutsis and moderate Hutus were killed right away, their names and addresses having been on lists.
Radio Mille CollinesRadio Télévision Libre des Mille Collines was a Rwandan radio station which broadcast from July 8, 1993 to July 31, 1994. It played a significant role during the April-July 1994 Rwandan Genocide....
broadcasted incitements to murder. Trucks began arriving to pick up scores of bodies. On the morning of April 7, ten Belgian peacekeepers who had been guarding Prime Minister Agathe and who were witnesses to the government troops laying siege to her residence, were disarmed and taken to Camp Kigali, approximately 200 metres from where Colonel Bagosora was holding a meeting of military officers. The peacekeepers were murdered over the course of several hours by military personnel. During his testimony Colonel Bagosora admitted attending to the scene while the murders were in progress, although claiming he could do nothing to stop the killings. As anticipated, the death of the ten Belgian peacekeepers prompted the withdrawal of most peacekeeping troops from Rwanda, effectively clearing the way for slaughter.
Over the next 100 days, people were being killed at an astonishing rate. The number of dead varies from 800,000 to 1,000,000 people, depending on the source.
Bagosora fled into neighbouring
ZaireThe Republic of Zaire was the name of the present Democratic Republic of the Congo between 27 October 1971, and 17 May 1997. The name of Zaire derives from the , itself an adaptation of the Kongo word nzere or nzadi, or "the river that swallows all rivers".Known as the Belgian Congo up until its...
. “Fed and protected in
refugee campsThe Great Lakes refugee crisis is the common name for the situation beginning with the exodus in April 1994 of over two million Rwandans to neighboring countries of the Great Lakes region of Africa in the aftermath of the Rwandan Genocide. Many of the refugees were Hutu ethnics fleeing the...
supported by millions of dollars in international aid, the Hutu Power leaders were able to hold regular planning meetings and to recruit new members.” With Bagosora actively involved, they rebuilt their military structures with the purpose of wiping out the Tutsi population.
ICTR trial
Bagosora later moved to Cameroon with several other Hutu Power leaders. It was there that he was detained with
André NtageruraAndré Ntagerura is a Rwandan politician. He is chiefly known for having been accused and acquitted of having a role in the Rwandan Genocide.Born in Rwanda of Hutu ethnicity, Ntagerura pursued formal education in Québec, Canada....
. In 1997, he first appeared before the
International Criminal Tribunal for RwandaThe International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda , or the Tribunal pénal international pour le Rwanda , is an international court established in November 1994 by the United Nations Security Council in order to judge people responsible for the Rwandan genocide and other serious violations of the...
(ICTR) in
ArushaArusha is a city of northern Tanzania surrounded by some of Africa's most famous landscapes and national parks. Beautifully situated below Mount Meru on the eastern edge of the eastern branch of the Great Rift Valley, it has a pleasant climate and is close to Serengeti, Ngorongoro Crater, Lake...
,
TanzaniaThe United Republic of Tanzania is a country in central East Africa bordered by Kenya and Uganda to the north, Rwanda, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the west, and Zambia, Malawi and Mozambique to the south. The country's eastern borders lie on the Indian Ocean.The United...
, to face thirteen counts of eleven different international crimes, based on the laws of genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes. The joint trial with three other senior military officers charged as co-conspirators opened on April 2, 2002.
During his trial further evidence was submitted that in 1991 he and other co-accused helped to draft a document where they referred to the Tutsi ethnic group as the "principal enemy" which was widely distributed in the army. They were also accused of supporting the media outlets responsible for spreading hate messages and making lists of victims.
The trial wrapped up on June 1, 2007, after five years, with Colonel Théoneste Bagosora still maintaining his innocence.
On December 18, 2008, the
International Criminal Tribunal for RwandaThe International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda , or the Tribunal pénal international pour le Rwanda , is an international court established in November 1994 by the United Nations Security Council in order to judge people responsible for the Rwandan genocide and other serious violations of the...
found Bagosora and two other senior Rwandan army officers, Major Aloys Ntabakuze and Colonel Anatole Nsengiyumva, guilty of
genocideGenocide is the deliberate and systematic destruction, in whole or in part, of an ethnic, racial, religious, or national group.While precise definition varies among genocide scholars, a legal definition is found in the 1948 United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of...
, crimes against humanity and war crimes and sentenced him to
life imprisonmentLife imprisonment is a sentence of imprisonment for a serious felony crime where the convicted person is to remain in prison for the rest of his or her life...
. In ruling that life imprisonment was the appropriate sentence for Bagosora the three trial judges concurred that "The toll of human suffering was immense as a result of crimes which could have only occurred with his orders and authorisation." The tribunal court stated that Bagosora had been "the highest authority in the Rwandan Defense Ministry, with authority over the military" in the aftermath of the
assassination of President HabyarimanaThe assassination of Juvénal Habyarimana and Cyprien Ntaryamira on the evening of April 6, 1994 was the catalyst for the Rwandan Genocide. The airplane carrying Rwandan president Juvénal Habyarimana and Burundian president Cyprien Ntaryamira was shot down as it prepared to land in Kigali, Rwanda...
. The court ruled that Bagosora was responsible for the murders of Prime Minister
Agathe UwilingiyimanaAgathe Uwilingiyimana was a Rwandan political figure. She served as Prime Minister of Rwanda from 18 July 1993 until her death on 7 April 1994. Her term was ended when she was assassinated during the opening stages of the Rwandan Genocide...
, the 10 Belgian peacekeepers who had been guarding the Prime Minister at Camp Kigali, the president of the Constitutional Court Joseph Kavaruganda, and three major opposition leaders, Faustin Rucogoza, Frederic Nzamurambaho, and Landoald Ndasingwa. In addition, the court found Bagosora guilty of orchestrating the mass killings of Tutsis in
KigaliKigali, population 851,024 , is the capital and largest city of Rwanda. It is situated in the centre of the nation, and has been the economic, cultural, and transport hub of Rwanda since it became capital at independence in 1962. The main residence and offices of the President of Rwanda are located...
and
GisenyiGisenyi is a city in Rubavu district in the West Province of Rwanda. Gisenyi is contiguous with Goma, the city across the border in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The population of the city is about 106 000 .-Description:...
. However, the trial court held there was a reasonable doubt that events prior to April 6 could only be explained by Bagosora conspiring with others, so he was therefore acquitted on a charge of conspiracy to commit genocide prior to April 6, 1994.
In the end result at trial, former Colonel Theoneste Bagosora was convicted of 10 counts of eight different crimes, including genocide, two counts of murder (one for Rwandans and one for peacekeepers), Extermination, Rape, Persecution, Other Inhumane Acts, two counts of Violence to Life (one for Rwandans and one for peacekeepers) as well as Outrages Upon Personal Dignity.
External links