The Final Solution: Death of the Tutsis
Once the killing had started, it spread through the country like an evil fire. Within three months, a million people had been killed. The statistic is cold: behind it lie death upon death, of a wife, a mother, a father, a husband, a sister, a brother, a daughter, a son, an aunt, an uncle, a grandmother, a grandfather.
The genocide had been carefully planned. For months, a death list of prominent Tutsis, members of the political opposition and moderate Hutus who refused to back extremist Hutu power ideology was circulating freely in the capital, Kigali. These people were among the first killed. In Butare there were no large-scale massacres for the first two weeks, because the provincial governor was a Tutsi. Many frightened Tutsis fled to the town hall for protection, but when the mayor was replaced by a Hutu, killings began immediately. Once the prepared lists were exhausted, the killers'; rage turned against the Tutsi population in general. Not all victims were Tutsis, but all Tutsis were victims and were hunted down by the execution squads.
First they killed the men and boys, then they moved on to the women. Educated Tutsi men and women were particularly targeted. Many families witnessed the murder of their loved ones.
The killing was done with maximum cruelty: the gangs burned people alive, threw dead and living people alike into pit latrines or mass graves, and compelled people to kill their own family members and relatives. In some instances those who wanted to escape a slow and painful death by machetes had to pay the killers for the privilege of being shot with a gun.
Survivors ran from the hills to the swamps, where they were also hunted and killed. In the ensuing chaos of murder and flight, many people were separated from their loved ones and to this day do not know where they were killed or are buried.
Many Tutsis who survived owe their lives to Hutu friends, neighbours and even strangers who took great risks to protect them. Some local Hutus tried to conceal and protect Tutsis, but they were too few and too exposed and risked their lives if caught. Chillingly, there were some who saved people they knew, but were involved in killing those they didn't know.