{"id":53752,"date":"2025-04-07T08:42:05","date_gmt":"2025-04-07T08:42:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/how-kanziga-ordered-the-killing-of-tutsi-neighbors-with-acid-the-night\/"},"modified":"2025-04-07T17:03:33","modified_gmt":"2025-04-07T17:03:33","slug":"how-kanziga-ordered-the-killing-of-tutsi-neighbors-with-acid-the-night","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/how-kanziga-ordered-the-killing-of-tutsi-neighbors-with-acid-the-night\/","title":{"rendered":"How Agathe Kanziga ordered the killing of Tutsi neighbors with acid the night Habyarimana died"},"content":{"rendered":"

After the meeting, Habyarimana was returning with others, including Cyprien Ntaryamira, the President of Burundi, around 8:00 PM, when the plane approached Kigali for landing as usual.<\/p>\n

Moments later, a missile struck one wing of the aircraft over Masaka airspace, followed by another hitting its tail. The plane caught fire and crashed in Habyarimana\u2019s compound in Kanombe, near the military camp and the airport.<\/p>\n

That compound, now located in Kamashashi Cell, Nyarugunga Sector, Kicukiro District, still bears remnants of the original gate and security outposts.<\/p>\n

Jeanne d\u2019Arc Mukazayire, a resident of Kibaya less than 10 minutes from Habyarimana\u2019s house, told IGIHE that immediately after the crash, a sweep began targeting all Tutsi in Nyarugunga.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was 8:40 p.m. Wherever there was a Tutsi, they were immediately targeted. They knocked\u2014if you opened the door, you were shot. Anyone claiming the killings happened on April 10 is lying; it all began that very night. Only those who had fled into the wild survived,\u201d she recalls.<\/p>\n

Mukazayire explained that soldiers from Habyarimana\u2019s residence and from the Kanombe military camp carried out the killings in Nyarugunga that night. The next morning, April 7, 1994, Interahamwe militia continued the hunt, killing Tutsi survivors with machetes and clubs.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey slaughtered people, even those hiding under bridges. On the second and third days, April 8, we fled to Masaka Church. They followed us. A young child, maybe 7 or 8 years old, held up a photo of Habyarimana and said, \u2018Isn\u2019t this the one you killed?\u2019 Then they hacked people like they were cutting down corn, with machetes and clubs labeled \u2018Mpongano y\u2019Umwanzi\u2019 (revenge on the enemy),\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Jeanne<\/figure>\n

{{Kanziga\u2019s orders to kill}}<\/p>\n

Genocide survivors say that after the plane was shot down, Habyarimana\u2019s wife, Agathe Kanziga, ordered soldiers at the compound to kill all Tutsi in the surrounding area.<\/p>\n

Kanziga wielded significant power in Habyarimana\u2019s regime and is believed to have been deeply involved in planning the genocide against the Tutsi. Her influence was reinforced by her family connections, including her brother, Colonel Elie Sagatwa, a high-ranking officer, at the time.<\/p>\n

Part of the crashed plane landed in the yard of Marie Chantal Niyonshuti\u2019s family, whose house bordered Habyarimana\u2019s.<\/p>\n

Now living in Kanombe, Niyonshuti recounted Kanziga\u2019s role, \u201cA soldier I was friends with confided in me that the Tutsi around Habyarimana\u2019s home were killed on Kanziga\u2019s orders immediately after the death of her husband.\u201d<\/p>\n

Josephine Musanabera, who lives in Mukoni village beneath the former presidential home, confirmed that Kanziga stood at the gates issuing kill orders.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe told neighbors, those living near Niyonshuti, near Murasira and Murara that night that she didn\u2019t want that \u201cfilth.\u201d The filth of Tutsi killed my husband.\u201d Following Kanziga\u2019s command, soldiers from the compound attacked their Tutsi neighbors with guns and acid, killing them with extreme cruelty.<\/p>\n

\"Part<\/figure>\n

{{Burning the bodies with acid}}<\/p>\n

Before the genocide officially kicked off, local families were prohibited from visiting the presidential household, with a posted warning: \u201cOnly residents allowed.\u201d Niyonshuti confirmed that the soldiers who killed their neighbors were exclusively Habyarimana\u2019s guards and staff.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter the crash, it was Habyarimana\u2019s soldiers and workers, not outsiders who dragged people out, shouting \u2018come out, come out!\u2019 and immediately shot them. Then they took the bodies away,\u201d she remembers. She said the corpses were taken to Kanombe military camp and incinerated with acid.<\/p>\n

\u201cBefore daybreak, they removed them so that when investigators came to examine the wreckage, no Tutsi bodies would be found. They were taken to the military camp and burned. No one waited for dawn. Anyone who survived probably escaped under a pile of bodies or by sheer miracle.\u201d<\/p>\n

{{Rebuilding lives after survival}}<\/p>\n

After the Genocide against the Tutsi was stopped in 1994, Mukazayire returned to her destroyed home. She was later provided housing by FARG, the government fund for genocide survivors, in Kinyinya sector, Gasabo district.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re living well now. We sleep peacefully. We get treatment when sick, FARG pays for it. We\u2019ve moved on from those dark days. We live in a village now and have no problems. I have a place to lay my head and live like anyone else.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Josephine<\/figure>\n

Niyonshuti said the government supported her through university, and she now has hope for the future. She\u2019s proud that Rwanda has eliminated ethnic discrimination and continues to progress in all sectors.<\/p>\n

To preserve her family’s legacy and contribute to development, she opened a bar called Akagoroba on their old land near Habyarimana\u2019s former residence. It\u2019s now a popular community hangout in Nyarugunga.<\/p>\n

Josephine Musanabera, another survivor, who often suffered severe trauma from her past, said messages of hope from leaders, especially President Paul Kagame, who restored her will to live.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re focused on surviving and thriving now. We\u2019ve rolled up our sleeves and rebuilt. We want to leave a better country for our children. And we are so grateful to our government. It stands by us, and our children are in school.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Genocide against the Tutsi claimed over a million lives in just 100 days, making it the fastest genocide in recorded history.<\/p>\n

\"after<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On April 6, 1994, Juv\u00e9nal Habyarimana, who had been President of Rwanda since 1973, boarded a Dassault Falcon 50 aircraft to attend a regional summit in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, chaired by then-President Ali Hassan Mwinyi.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":135,"featured_media":2000085002,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[72,75],"byline":[170],"hashtag":[],"class_list":["post-53752","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-featured-news-home","tag-homenews","byline-igihe"],"bylines":[{"id":170,"name":"IGIHE","slug":"igihe","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":8}],"contributors":[{"id":170,"name":"IGIHE","slug":"igihe","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":8}],"featured_image":{"id":2000085002,"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/profile-529.jpg","alt":"","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","width":0,"height":0,"sizes":{"thumbnail":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/profile-529.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"medium":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/profile-529.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"medium_large":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/profile-529.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"large":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/profile-529.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"full":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/profile-529.jpg","width":0,"height":0}}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53752","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/135"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=53752"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53752\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2000085002"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=53752"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=53752"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=53752"},{"taxonomy":"byline","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/byline?post=53752"},{"taxonomy":"hashtag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtag?post=53752"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}