The presidential jet carrying Habyarimana and his entourage was brought down on the evening of April 6, 1994, as he returned from a heads of state summit in Dar es Salaam where he had made a commitment to integrate fighters of the Rwanda Patriotic Front into the armed forces and to hold elections for a new all-inclusive national government.
This commitment would fulfill the final requirements of a peace agreement arrived at in talks that started in 1992, to return peace to the country which had been at war since October 1, 1990 when exiled Rwandans launched a guerrilla campaign from neighboring Uganda.
After it was hit by two missiles at about 20.30hrs local time, the jet, which was on the final approach to Kigali International Airport, burst into flames before crashing just outside the compound of the presidential residence.
Although Habyarimana’s assassination has often been projected as the trigger to the mass killings that left nearly a million Tutsi dead and moderate Hutu dead, the inquiry report, a copy of which The East African has seen, paints a picture of a system that was imploding from within as disgruntled elements from the president’s inner circle turned on him, to plot his death.
Coming more than 15 years after the event, it is the first open inquiry into the events and broader circumstances surrounding the death of president Habyarimana.
Source: Allafrica