Rwanda. Rwandese IDP's near the border with Zaire (DRC)

The spring of 1994 marked the most tragic period in the Rwandan history as between 500,000 and one million men, women and children were brutally murdered during a violent campaign of genocide committed by forces loyal to the Rwandan Government.

On 6 April 1994, President Habyarimana of Rwanda and President Ntaryamira of Burundi were killed when their plane was shot down as they returned to Kigali from talks in Arusha. The genocide following the plane crash was masterminded by extremist politicians intent on manipulating tensions between Hutus and Tutsi in order to decimate the opposition. By June 1994, an estimated 500,000 to one million people had been massacred.

On 4 July 1994, as the RPF took control of Kigali, defeated government officials used radio broadcasts to invoke hysteria about the likely retribution for the crimes committed and incited the population to flee, thus prompting the fastest refugee exodus in recent history. Among the refugee population were many of those responsible for the genocide. In less than a week, more than 700,000 people crossed the border into Zaire, creating a humanitarian disaster on an unprecedented scale.

Cholera and dysentery and dehydration due to lack of water quickly swept through the crowded camps and within one month, an estimated 50,000 refugees died.