1994 — The Assassination That Lit Rwanda's Fuse

On February 21, 1994, Rwanda's Minister of Public Works Félicien Gatabazi, a moderate Hutu and opposition leader, was shot dead at the gate of his Kigali home. The very next day, extremist leader Martin Bucyana was assassinated in Butare.

Six weeks before the genocide began, these twin killings proved neither moderates nor extremists were safe, and the Arusha peace accord was already dying. Gatabazi's murder removed a voice for compromise at the moment Rwanda could least afford to lose one; a day later, the killing on the other side confirmed that the slide had begun. Peace was not yet formally dead, but its protectors were being buried.