Between the months of April and July 1994, approximately 800,000 people were killed in Rwanda over the course of about 100 days. On April 6, Rwandan President Juvenal Habyarimana's plane was shot down and, within hours, government soldiers and extremist Hutu civilians began killing minority Tutsis and moderate Hutu. The country erupted into a brutal civil war over long-standing ethnic and economic pressures, leaving hundreds of thousands dead or displaced.

Reluctant to involve themselves in what they believed to be a 'local conflict,' the international community largely stood by the sidelines, abandoning their embassies and focusing aid efforts on evacuating foreign nationals from the country. Without international intervention, the violent killings proceeded unchecked and men, women and children were brutally murdered and families torn apart. The conflict finally ceased when the Rwandan Patriotic Front, led by the man who is now President of Rwanda, Paul Kagame, took control of Kigali in July and established an interim government of unity. Ultimately, the violence decimated what is estimated to be nearly 85 percent of the Tutsi population.

Recovery efforts in Rwanda have largely focused on reconciliation and the future. Education is a key to ensuring the world does not witness another preventable massacre like the Rwandan genocide, and to helping Rwandan people rise above the atrocities to a brighter future.

We have found the following books and movies to be interesting and informative sources on the Rwandan genocide and encourage you to explore them for further information. If you have more to add, please send your suggestions to info@orphansofrwanda.org.

In Film

The 1994 genocide in Rwanda resulted in the murder of than 800,000 people. In 2004, PBS's Frontline commemorated the 10th anniversary of these horrific events in a moving documentary entitled "Ghosts of Rwanda".

2004 also saw the release of two powerful, but very different, films. The first, Hotel Rwanda, was widely distributed, and starred Don Cheadle as Paul Rusesabagina, the courageous hotel manager who sheltered thousands of people at the Milles Collines hotel in Kigali. The second, less well-known but equally moving, was a documentary entitled Shake Hands with the Devil. The film's focus is the Canadian general Romeo Dallaire, commander of the UN troops in Rwanda at the time of the genocide. General Dallaire, a man of profound integrity, repeatedly sought reinforcements and greater freedom of action from UN officials in New York, but the paralysis of the international community was reflected in continued orders to do nothing. Horrified by what he witnessed, Daillaire became deeply depressed after his return home, and even attempted suicide. In 2004, the filmmakers persuaded him to revisit Rwanda. Repeatedly cutting between the present and archival footage from 1994, the movie is both a testament to one individual's courage and a damning indictment of the indifference of world powers.

Noteworthy Books

We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed With Our Families: Stories From Rwanda
by Philip Gourevitch, a staff writer for The New Yorker.

Shake Hands With the Devil
by Romeo Dallaire, the Canadian general who commanded the UN peacekeeping contingent stationed in Rwanda, but who was directed by his superiors, under pressure from the international powers, to do nothing.

A People Betrayed: The Role of the West in Rwanda's Genocide
by Linda Melvern, a British investigative journalist.

Machete Season: The Killers in Rwanda Speak
by Jean Hatzfeld

Left to Tell: Discovering God Amidst the Rwandan Holocaust
by Immaculee Ilibagiza