The
assassination of Juvénal Habyarimana and Cyprien Ntaryamira on the evening of 6 April 1994 was the catalyst for the
Rwandan Genocide. The airplane carrying
Rwandan president
Juvénal Habyarimana and
Burundian president
Cyprien Ntaryamira was shot down as it prepared to land in
Kigali, Rwanda. The assassination set in motion some of the bloodiest events of the late 20th century, the Rwandan Genocide and the
First Congo War. Responsibility for the attack is disputed, with most theories proposing as suspects either the rebel
Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) or government-aligned
Hutu Power extremists opposed to negotiation with the RPF. Regardless of the cause of the assassination, it unquestionably resulted in the immediate national mobilization of anti-Tutsi militias, the
Interahamwe, who proceeded to set up roadblocks across Rwanda and slaughter every Tutsi or moderate Hutu until driven away by rebel RPF troops.