Citation
Campaign
against
Genocide War
(May)
Dr Jonathan R Beloff
Recap…
• RPA CMF in Kigali: Alpha, Bravo, 59th, 21st, 101st and 7th
• Frontlines: Kacyiru, running along RN3 past CND and east towards
Remera
• Mt Rebero & Nyanza Hill under RPA control
• Gisozi partially under Bravo CMF
• Fierce battles in: Gikondo, Kicukiro, Kanombe & Mt Jali/Kigali
• RPA humanitarian operations:
• Guerrilla tactics by squads or platoons to save people
• FAR rid itself of moderate Hutus
May 1-4:
• UNAMIR’s base is still protected by an RPA platoon
• 1st: Small gains by capturing Egyptian embassy in Kacyiru
• 100 wounded in shelling at St Famille
• RPA’s 157th and 101st gains in east/south (Bugesera and
Gato)
• 2nd-5th: FAR launching shells/mortars at RPA position
(CND)
• The warfare is similar to WW1 in terms of barely changing
frontlines
• Fighting increased in Kisimenti & airport
• RTLM announces ‘clean-up day’
• 7th CMF reached Kigali proper
May 5-11:
• 7th: RPA had largely swept across the Nyabarongo River
• 101st focus is rooting out Interahamwe
• Fighting and rescue operations in Gikondo, Kicukiro and Rwandex
• Pressure on Camp Kanombe
• FAR brings heavy artillery from Gitarama
• Roughly a fourth of Kigali has been liberated
• Lt General Mubarakh:
• “the akazu wanted their soldiers to focus more on killing Tutsis than the war effort. There was the
belief that if enough Tutsis died, the RPA would give up.”
• 9th: RPA’s 59th and 21st CMF begin taking positions around Nyamirambo
• UNAMIR loses Pte Mensah Baidoo of Ghana from a FAR shell
• 10th: New RPA operation in Remera
• 11th: Battles throughout the city and fighting in Bugesera (and north of Gitarama)
• Some FAR commanders begin to desert after failures to stop the RPA’s 157th CMF from crossing the
Akanyaru River
• 21st CMF shelling of Nyamirambo and Bravo focusing on capturing western parts of Kigali
May 12-18:
• RPA’s capture of Kabuga in eastern Kigali (a few km from Camp Kanombe)
• Lt Colonel Tumwine receives orders from General Kagame to allow a humanitarian
corridor for civilians to escape before the upcoming battle for Camp Kanombe.
• General Bagasora attempts to take Mt Rebero from RPA on 16th
• RPA cut most links between Kigali and Gitarama (Augustin Bizimungu is cut
off from the genocide government which causes confusion)
• Fighting at Kimihurua Circle continues with greater intensity
• In France, Minister Marizamunda hears about the Genocide
• RPA’s 101st and 157th CMF reaches outskirts of Gitarama
• 18th: New FAR recruits (10,000) come into Kigali but most are Interahamwe.
• The recruits were relatively unsuccessful in displacing the RPA despite vicious battles
across Kicukiro, Remera and eastern parts of Kigali
May 19-25:
• Kigali is nearly encircled and the battle for Camp Kanombe ramps up
• FAR begin using a 37 mm anti-aircraft guns for ground warfare
• 20th: RPA’s 7th CMF, along with Bravo, capture Mt Jali
• They effectively take control over the hill and the surrounding north-western neighbourhood
• Simba Company blocks southern roads from Kanombe to Kiyovu
• Prevents FAR’s resupply of Camp Kanombe
• Prunier (1997, 255) estimated around 60,000 bodies have been picked and buried of
genocide victims in Kigali
• RPA attempt to take the southern Kigali hill of Mt Butamwa but are unable to with
59th CMF losing up to 50% of its troops
• Capture of Camp Kanombe on May 22/23rd
• After the capture, Tiger Company (Under Andrew Kagame) travels to western part of the city near
Mt Kigali
• 24th: While most of the frontlines remained the same, the attacks on Mt Rebero
ceased but Interahamwe attacks against RPA increase
• 25th: Changes within the RPA’s structure
• Kayonga is transferred to Bravo CMF
Capture of Camp Kanombe
• Fighting for the area really began taking place on April 30th
• Heavy fighting around the plane crash site
• 18th May: UNAMIR notices that fighting is intense in the Kanombe area
• Two Companies from the 3rd Battalion (Eagle and Tiger) and the 7th CMF (from the east)
meet to take over the Busanza road.
• Alpha and 21st CMF are also involved in taking Camp Kanombe and the airport
• RPA’s Andrew Kagame is ordered to take KN 3rd to Kanombe
• 7th CMF was the lynchpin in dislodging the Para-Commandos
• May 21st: FAR attempts a counterattack to break the RPA’s control in order to gain supplies,
troops and move FAR family members.
• The passageway remained open from before but only for civilians.
• "This was done because it lessened the troops [suspecting Interahamwe or civilian clothed soldiers would flee as
well] the RPA would have to fight later, the FAR left equipment behind, caused confusion and chaos that
demoralised the enemy soldiers” –Lt Colonel Tumwine
• UNAMIR establishes a temporary cease-fire for the evacuation of 156 injured persons from the
military site (800 soldiers and thousands of civilians flee)
• May 23rd: Camp Kanombe is taken
• FAR leave behind: 37MM anti-aircraft guns, Browning Machine Guns, 60MM mortars, small arms
ammunition and vehicles
Camp Kanombe Capture Response:
• Officially, the military response was to FAR shelling of CND, Meridien Hotel, UN HQ and King Faisal Hospital.
However, the RPA’s capture of Camp Kanombe led to different expressions of anger.
• Interahamwe:
1.) Disorganisation in eastern Kigali with theft beyond what was before.
2.) Attacking Mille Collines and other parts of the City
3.) Kacyiru: More daring in attacking civilians
Important to note that much of the Interahamwe were called by the RTLM radio of the need to speed up the
killings.
• FAR troop morale collapses:
• 1.) Booh-Booh writes of how UNAMIR saw the troop morale collapse after the fall of the military camp.
• 2.) FAR focus on consolidating their current holdings (specifically in the tactical important Camp Kimihurura) in other
parts of the city but are moving civilians out.
• We see the difference between ‘civilian’ militias from the military establishment who within a few weeks
would lose the defacto capital city of Gitarama.
May 26-31:
• 3rd Battalion is for the most part dissolved and brought into other CMFs.
• Most were either taken by Alpha, Bravo or independent such as Andrew Kagame’s company
• Securing of Gisozi and pockets of resistance at Mt Jali and battles in western
Kacyiru
• Beginning to plan the rescue for St Paul & St Famille
• FAR’s only operational response was shelling RPA locations at the CND, Meridien
Hotel, KFH and Amahoro Stadium.
• Vicious fighting at Kimihurura Circle continues
• Temporary cease-fire on 27th May for a prisoner exchange
• Group of Neutral Military Observers (GOMN) join UNAMIR to talk to refugees at different sites (St
Paul, St Famille, Mille Collines, etc) about were to be sent
• 28th: Trucks of refugees from Hotel Des Mille Colline leave for RPA territory
• Lt General Muhire’s 101st CMF sends three companies to seize the Mugina to cut the
FAR supply lines from the south
• 30th: Interahamwe leaders visit Kiyovu to promote genocidal killings
• 31st: Alpha CMF gains territory in Kimihurura in its encirclement tactic
• Capt Mbaye Diagne of Senegal dies by the Kigali Night Club on KN 7 RD
Questions?
Questions?
