The Downed Plane

It had been a tumultuous day in Dar es Salaam. While the planned focus of the summit was supposed to be peace in Burundi, the group quickly shifted to conversation about the Arusha Accords, which had been signed by the government of Rwanda and the rebel force Rwandan Patriotic Front in an attempt to end the Rwandan Civil War. The Rwandan president, Juvénal Habyarimana, was criticized for dragging the implementation of the peace process out, and for heightening the racial tensions in the country. Burundian president Cyprien Ntaryamira was especially incensed, as hostilities in Rwanda could easily overflow into his own neighboring country.

Despite this disagreement, Ntaryamira asked Habyarimana if he could catch a ride back home on the Rwandan presidential plane, because it was faster than the Burundian propellor plane. Habyarimana agreed; while there is not known what Habyarimana’s reason for this was, it is surmised that he may have felt unsafe in the midst of the Rwandan social upheaval, and thought perhaps having another president on board would keep him safe.. They left Tanzania in the evening at the end of the summit. The plane headed to Kigali, a flight only expected to take 2.5 hrs.

As the flight circled the airport, two ground-to-air missiles erupted from bush. The plane erupted into flames, and in a ironic twist of fate, crashed into the gardens of the presidential palace, where it remains today as a reminder. Three crew and nine passengers were killed. Habyarimana, nicknamed “Kinani,” meaning invincible, was dead.

That evening, the racial tensions in Rwanda, already a powder keg, exploded. The majority ethnic group, the Hutu, grabbed the weapons they had been stockpiling and began the brutal slaughter of their moderate Hutu and minority ethnic Tutsi neighbors and friends. For 100 days, while the world stood by and UNAMIR was helpless, they hunted town and killed their fellow countrymen with guns, machetes, clubs, and other handmade weapons. It is not known how many people were killed - in some areas, entered villages were killed and there was no one alive to testify about the loss. It is estimated that between 800,000 and 1 million people lost their lives. No one was spared.

It may never be known who shot down President Habyarimana’s plane; it remains a mystery in the history of central African history. However, much like other unsolved mysteries thought out history, theories about who shot the presidential plane down, and why, have popped up.

The first is that Habyarimana, who was an ethnic Hutu, was assassinated by angry Hutus. The Rwandan Civil War had been actively going on for nearly four years at the time that the presidential plane was shot down. Racial conflict had begun following the Belgian colonialization of Rwanda; during this time, Belgium imposed racial distinctions on the African people, complete with mandatory identity cards and divides in eduction and employment rights. The majority Hutu were relegated to social standing below the Tutsis. When independence was achieved during the wave of Pan-Africanism in the 1960s, Rwandan Hutus lashed out against Rwandan Tutsi, driving many of them into neighboring Uganda. The rebel group, the Rwandan Patriotic Front, took shape in Burundi in 1990, with the goal of power sharing between the two ethnic groups. It is surmised that angry Hutus felt betrayed when Habyarimana signed the Arusha Accords, an agreement that outlined a power sharing plan between the Rwandan government and the Rwandan Patriotic Front. Extremist Hutus were not having it.

The second theory is that the plane was shot down by the Rwandan Patriotic Front. Their motives would be clear - Habyarimana, although willing to sign these peace accords, was unwilling to denounce the incendiary violent speech on theRadio Télévision Libre des Mille Collins. The hateful messaging on this radio station was instrumental in fueling the violent divide in the Land of 1000 Hills. It is quite conceivable that the RPF believed that Habyarimana’s participation in the Arusha Accords peace process was a false front to take off pressure from the international community; he had not signaled that he meant to take action in any meaningful way. While there is evidence to suggest that the RPF was indeed responsible for this attack, Paul Kagame, the current president of Rwanda and leader of the RPF, denies involvement.

Unsolved mysteries like this cry out for answers, but they do raise the question: at what point does it not matter anymore? Jack the Ripper is perhaps one of the most internationally well-known unsolved mysteries, but after 120+ years, it is impossible to prosecute any guilty party; a solution would only satisfy the curiosity of Ripperologists. Same with the murder of the Black Dahlia or the disappearance of Jimmy Hoffa. As a species, we like closure. We also love mystery.

As a historian, I would love to close the book on the story of the assassination of Habyarimana and Ntaryamira. But as a student of African genocide, I would posit that this particular unsolved mystery is a sleeping dog that perhaps history should let lie. Nearly 30 years on from the genocide that tore Rwanda apart, the country is rising from is ashes to become the phoenix that it was perhaps always meant to be. Finger pointing cannot heal, but perhaps remembering the past and moving forward can.