As Rwanda marks another solemn anniversary, April 30 remains etched in memory as a day when the Genocide against the Tutsi escalated with terrifying coordination across the country, leaving thousands dead in a span of hours.
In Bugesera, one of the many regions already devastated by previous attacks, desperate survivors sought refuge in dense papyrus swamps after fleeing earlier killings in surrounding hills and churches. But even these natural havens proved no match for a regime intent on extermination.
Government forces used aerial reconnaissance to detect movements in the swamps. Once concentrations of Tutsi were identified, a deliberate operation was launched to wipe them out. In the swamp known as “CND,” located between Ntarama, Rulindo, and Mugina in the former Gitarama prefecture, a massacre unfolded between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m.
Interahamwe militias and soldiers surrounded the area, attacking with firearms, grenades, machetes, and clubs. Victims trapped in the muddy terrain were slaughtered with brutal efficiency. Women and girls were raped, tortured, and mutilated before being killed, often with sharpened sticks.
Further north in Gisenyi (present-day Rubavu), survivors were deceived by loudspeaker announcements claiming peace had returned. As they emerged from hiding, they were rounded up and taken to Commune Rouge, where they were executed. Today, that site serves as a genocide memorial, preserving the remains of more than 5,000 victims. The killings were fueled by months of hate propaganda, including content published in Kangura, an extremist paper edited by Gisenyi native Hassan Ngeze.
In Rusizi District’s Mibilizi Catholic Parish, roughly 60 Tutsi survivors were murdered the same day. They had sought refuge after escaping previous attacks, only to be killed by Interahamwe led by convicted genocide perpetrator Yusufu Munyakazi, fresh from raids in Nyamasheke’s Shangi sector. Once a sanctuary for over 8,000 Tutsi, Mibilizi had already seen mass killings just two weeks earlier, on April 18.
Meanwhile, in Huye District, attackers struck Ngoma Catholic Parish, another supposed refuge. Families were decimated; children were bludgeoned, women were raped and mutilated, and entire lineages were erased in a matter of hours.
In Butare town, Interahamwe militants stormed the Abenebikira Sisters’ Center in Itaba. After selecting their victims, they were transported to Kabutare and Groupe Scolaire, where they were murdered using firearms, machetes, and containers of petrol.
April 30 stands as a haunting symbol of the scale and intent of the Genocide against the Tutsi. The violence was not spontaneous—it was organized, methodical, and carried out with precision. Across Rwanda, the same script played out: luring, surrounding, and annihilating.
Thirty-one years later, the scars remain, not only in mass graves and memorials, but in the memories of survivors and the soul of a nation still rebuilding from one of history’s darkest chapters.