On April 19, 1994, interim President Théodore Sindikubwabo traveled to Butare, a region where massacres had not yet begun, and delivered a chilling message, urging citizens to “act.” That word, though vague, carried a deadly meaning — to start killing Tutsi.
Most of the regions previously under the former Butare prefecture are currently part of Huye District.
That same day, the genocidal regime removed Butare’s Prefect, Jean Baptiste Habyarimana, a Tutsi who had resisted the killings, and replaced him with Sylvain Nsabimana, a member of the PSD political party.
Nsabimana’s appointment marked a turning point. He served as Prefect of Butare from April 19 to June 17, 1994, overseeing mass killings in the region.
He was arrested in Kenya in 1997 and later found guilty of genocide by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), receiving an 18-year sentence.
Sindikubwabo himself had been appointed interim president shortly after the assassination of President Juvénal Habyarimana on April 6, 1994. His rise to power came through a committee led by Colonel Théoneste Bagosora, a key figure behind the Genocide against the Tutsi.
Prince Ruzigana / The Kaminuza Star