Interahamwe
{{short description|Paramilitary group involved in 1994 Rwandan Genocide}}
{{Infobox War Faction
| name = Interahamwe
| war = Rwandan genocide
First Congo War
Second Congo War
| image = 250px
| caption = Flag of the Interahamwe
| leaders = Robert Kajuga (president)
Georges Rutaganda (vice president)
Augustin Bizimungu
Tharcisse Renzaho
Ildéphonse Hategekimana
Ildéphonse Nizeyimana
Protais Mpiranya
Callixte Nzabonimana
Aloys Ndimbati
| ideology = Hutu Power
Hutu ultranationalism
Anti-communism
| position = Far-right{{cite web |date= 2024-11-20 |title= Far-Right Politics and Its Historical Marriage to Fascism |url= https://brewminate.com/far-right-politics-and-its-historical-marriage-to-fascism/ |access-date=2025-02-14 |publisher= Brewminate |language=en}}
| area = Jungles of Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo; formerly Rwanda
| size = 100,000 (1994)
20,000 (1998)
| allies = {{flagicon image|Flag of the CDR of Rwanda.svg}} Impuzamugambi
{{flag|Zaire}} (1996–1997)
{{flagdeco|Rwanda|1962}} Army for the Liberation of Rwanda (1996–2001)
{{nowrap|{{flag|DR Congo|1997}}}} (1998–2003)
{{flagicon image|Flagge FDLR.svg}} FDLR (2000–present)
| opponents = {{flagicon image|Rwandan Patriotic Front Flag.png}} Rwandan Patriotic Front (1994)
{{flag|Rwanda}} (1994–present)
{{flagdeco|Democratic Republic of the Congo|1997}} AFDL (1996–1997)
{{flag|Uganda}} (1996–present)
| partof = MRND
}}
{{Rwandan genocide}}
The Interahamwe ({{IPAc-en|ˌ|ɪ|n|t|ər|ə|ˈ|h|ɑː|m|w|eɪ}} or {{IPA|rw|í.nɦêː.ɾɑ́.hɑ́.mŋe|}}) is a Hutu paramilitary organization active in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda. The Interahamwe was formed around 1990, as the youth wing of the National Republican Movement for Democracy and Development (MRND according to its French name), the then-ruling party of Rwanda, and enjoyed the backing of the Hutu Power government. The Interahamwe, led by Robert Kajuga, were the main perpetrators of the Rwandan genocide, during which an estimated 500,000 to 1,000,000 Tutsi, Twa, and moderate Hutus were killed from April to July 1994, and the term "Interahamwe" was widened to mean any civilian militias or bands killing Tutsi.{{cite web|last1=Reyntjens|first1=Filip|title=Rwanda's Untold Story. A reply to "38 scholars, scientists, researchers, journalists and historians"|url=http://africanarguments.org/2014/10/21/rwandas-untold-story-a-reply-to-38-scholars-scientists-researchers-journalists-and-historians-by-filip-reyntjens/|website=African Arguments|date=21 October 2014|access-date=8 December 2017|archive-date=25 July 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180725222106/http://africanarguments.org/2014/10/21/rwandas-untold-story-a-reply-to-38-scholars-scientists-researchers-journalists-and-historians-by-filip-reyntjens/|url-status=live}}{{cite book|last1=Des Forges|first1=Alison|author-link=Alison Des Forges|title=Leave None to Tell the Story: Genocide in Rwanda – The Organization → The Militia|date=March 1999|publisher=Human Rights Watch|location=New York|isbn=1-56432-171-1|url=https://www.hrw.org/legacy/reports/1999/rwanda/Geno4-7-03.htm|access-date=2017-12-08|archive-date=2021-03-07|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210307213656/https://www.hrw.org/legacy/reports/1999/rwanda/Geno4-7-03.htm|url-status=live}}
The Interahamwe were driven out of Rwanda after Tutsi-led Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) victory in the Rwandan Civil War in July 1994, and are considered a terrorist organization by many African and Western governments. The Interahamwe and splinter groups such as the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) continue to wage an insurgency against Rwanda from neighboring countries, where they are also involved in local conflicts and terrorism.
Etymology
The name Interahamwe can be translated as "those who work together" or loosely as "those who fight together" in Kinyarwanda.{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/1288230.stm |publisher=BBC News |title=Rwanda: How the genocide happened |date=17 May 2011 |access-date=5 August 2008 |archive-date=6 August 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080806001825/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/1288230.stm |url-status=live }} Work, in racist radio broadcasts during the genocide, was used as slang that meant using machetes to kill.{{cite book |last=Bührer |first=Michel |year=1996 |title=Rwanda : Memoire d'un génocide |publisher=Editions UNESCO|location=Paris |page=12}} The name Interahamwe can be broken up as follows: intera is derived from the verb gutera, meaning "to work"; hamwe means "together" and is related to the word rimwe for "one".
English speakers usually pronounce it as {{IPAc-en|ˌ|ɪ|n|t|ər|ə|ˈ|h|ɑː|m|w|eɪ}}, though it is pronounced {{IPA|rw|inhêːɾɑhɑ́mwe|}} in Kinyarwanda.{{Fact|date=February 2025}} However, when speaking English, Rwandans will sometimes pronounce it in an English manner.{{Fact|date=February 2025}} The difference can be observed by listening to Paul Rusesabagina in the Return to Rwanda feature of a Hotel Rwanda DVD, and to the translator for a survivor of the Nyarubuye massacre in "Frontline" Ghosts of Rwanda.{{Fact|date=February 2025}}
Organization and history
Robert Kajuga, a half{{Cite web|url=https://www.hrw.org/reports/1999/rwanda/Geno4-7-03.htm|title="Leave None to Tell the Story": Genocide in Rwanda|year=1999|website=Human Rights Watch|quote=The militia was directed by a national committee that included Jerry Robert Kajuga, president (himself the son of a Tutsi father and Hutu mother),|access-date=2020-01-12|archive-date=2023-01-10|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230110224426/https://www.hrw.org/reports/1999/rwanda/Geno4-7-03.htm|url-status=live}} Tutsi (unusual for this group),{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2005/feb/16/rwanda.film |work=The Guardian |first=Jeevan |last=Vasagar |title=The hotel that saved hundreds from genocide |date=16 February 2005 |access-date=17 December 2016 |archive-date=10 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230110224426/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2005/feb/16/rwanda.film |url-status=live }} was the president of the Interahamwe. The vice president of Interahamwe was Georges Rutaganda.{{Fact|date=February 2025}} The Interahamwe was formed from groups of young people of the MRND party. They carried out the Rwandan genocide against the Tutsis in 1994.
The radio station RTLM, founded by Rwandan president Juvénal Habyarimana and his wife, was popular amongst the Interahamwe for its decidedly pro-Hutu agenda, among other things. From October 1993 to late 1994, it was used as an outlet for extremists to release ethnocentric and xenophobic propaganda targeted at the Tutsis, moderate Hutus and Belgians.{{Cite web|url=https://www.concordia.ca/research/migs/resources/rwanda-radio-transcripts.html|title=Rwanda radio transcripts|website=www.concordia.ca|access-date=2017-02-28|archive-date=2021-07-27|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210727232126/https://www.concordia.ca/research/migs/resources/rwanda-radio-transcripts.html|url-status=live}} Often it encouraged the ongoing acts of genocide by promoting fear among the Hutus that the Tutsis would massacre them, and broadcasting the positions of Tutsis hiding or attempting to flee.
Following the invasion of the Rwandan capital Kigali by the Tutsi Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), many Rwandan civilians and members of the Interahamwe fled to neighbouring countries, most notably to what at the time was Zaire, now Democratic Republic of Congo, and Tanzania. Sudan welcomed former Interahamwe to Juba, and in March 1998, Colonel Tharcisse Renzaho, the former prefect of Kigali, and Colonel Aloys Ntiwiragabo, the former Rwandan Presidential Guard commander, arrived in Juba from Nairobi to organize them.Gérard Prunier, From Genocide to Continental War: The "Congolese" Conflict and the Crisis of Contemporary Africa, C. Hurst & Co, 2009, {{ISBN|1-85065-523-5}}, p. 193 It has been nearly impossible to bring the Interahamwe to justice because they did not wear uniforms or have a clearly organized group of followers. They were the neighbours, friends and co-workers of Tutsis. Throughout the war, members of the Interahamwe moved into camps of refugees and the internally displaced. There the victims were mixed in with the enemy making it difficult to prosecute members of the Interahamwe. But the Gacaca court was put in place to at least attempt to get the killers in jail. It has seen criticism from many different sources for being flawed with the judges having inadequate training and many different parties in the court system being corrupt. This problem has led to many innocent people being put in jail and has caused the prisons to become overcrowded.{{citation needed|date=October 2020}}
During the war, millions of Rwandan Hutu refugees fled to Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo), along with many members of the Interahamwe, Presidential Guard and the Rwandan Government Forces (RGF). Following the recruitment of significant numbers of Congolese Hutu the organisation took the name Armée de Libération du Rwanda (ALiR).{{Citation needed|date=September 2013}} With the Kagame regime still in power, members still take part in border raids from the refugee camps.{{Fact|date=February 2025}}
After the Rwandan genocide
In 1999, Interahamwe attacked and kidnapped a group of 14 tourists in Bwindi National Park, Uganda. Eight of the tourists were killed.{{cite web|url=http://newsrss.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/289038.stm|title=BBC News – Africa – Kidnap tourist tells of ordeal|access-date=20 January 2015|archive-date=10 January 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230110224430/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/289038.stm|url-status=live}} The story was featured on National Geographic, Locked Up Abroad: Uganda.{{cite web|url=http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/channel/locked-up-abroad/episodes/uganda/|title=Locked Up Abroad|work=National Geographic Channel|access-date=20 January 2015|archive-date=20 January 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150120235804/http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/channel/locked-up-abroad/episodes/uganda/|url-status=dead}}
Prosecution
Leaders of the Interahamwe have been primarily prosecuted through the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda in Arusha, Tanzania. The tribunal has convicted at least 41 persons, often with life sentences, including former interim Prime Minister Jean Kambanda and Georges Rutaganda.{{cite web|url=http://www.ictr.org/default.htm|title=Home – United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda|access-date=20 January 2015|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150909163213/http://www.ictr.org/default.htm|archive-date=9 September 2015}} Fugitives have been captured and prosecuted in other countries, including Jean-Marie Vianney Mudahinyuka (a.k.a. "Zuzu"), an Interahamwe leader found hiding in Chicago, Illinois in January 2011.{{Cite web|url=https://www.ice.gov/news/releases/ice-deports-rwandan-wanted-committing-war-crimes-during-1994-genocide|title=ICE deports Rwandan wanted for committing war crimes during 1994 genocide|date=11 June 2015 |access-date=2016-05-11|archive-date=2018-12-12|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181212100653/https://www.ice.gov/news/releases/ice-deports-rwandan-wanted-committing-war-crimes-during-1994-genocide|url-status=live}}{{cite news |url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/02/02/alleged-genocide-leader-m_n_817536.html |work=Huffington Post |first=Will |last=Guzzardi |title=Suspected Genocide Leader Deported From Chicago To Rwanda |date=2 February 2011 |access-date=5 June 2011 |archive-date=10 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230110224435/https://www.huffpost.com/entry/alleged-genocide-leader-m_n_817536 |url-status=live }}{{cite web |publisher=Chicago Tribune |title=The Man Called Zuzu |date=June 26, 2005 |author=Don Terry |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/2005/06/26/the-man-called-zuzu/ |access-date=2018-06-08 |archive-date=2023-01-10 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230110224428/https://www.chicagotribune.com/ |url-status=live }}
References
{{Reflist|2}}
{{Hutu militants}}
External links
- [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/288937.stm "Interahamwe: A serious military threat"] BBC News, 2 March 1999
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20050919112227/http://web.africa.ufl.edu/asq/v1/3/10.htm "CONVENTIONAL WISDOM AND RWANDA'S GENOCIDE: An Opinion"], African Studies Quarterly, Spring 2004
{{Armed groups in the Congo wars}}
{{Authority control}}
Category:Factions of the First Congo War
Category:Far-right politics in Rwanda
Category:Rwandan genocide perpetrators
Category:Paramilitary organisations based in Rwanda
Category:Rebel groups in Rwanda
Category:Rebel groups in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
Category:Rebel groups in Uganda
Category:Military units and formations established in 1992
Category:Anti-communist organizations
Category:Violence against women in Rwanda