Shake Hands with the Devil

On April 6th, President Habyarimana’s plane was shot down at Kigali Airport, killing him. Colonel Bagosora formed a Crisis Committee composed of RGF officers that took control of the government. Bagosora claimed that he wanted the Arusha peace process continued and that the RGF would only briefly keep control. However, Dallaire claims, “I didn’t trust him for a minute” (223). Dallaire insisted that according to Rwanda’s constitution, Prime Minister Agathe should be in charge. Bagosora fired back that Agathe had no authority or support from the populace. Dallaire was able to secure the crash site for an official investigation.

Dallaire and Booh-Booh assigned guards to key political figures including Madame Agathe. Dallaire contacted the UN, where the orders to avoid conflict except in self-defense were repeated. Dallaire and his staff were flooded with phone calls from prominent Rwandans begging for protection. The day after the plane was shot down, UNAMIR began to get reports that the Presidential Guard, the Gendarmerie, the Interahamwe, and members of the RGF were going from house to house in Kigali with a list of names. Shots and screams were sometimes heard even during the phone calls, often ending in “the silence of a dead line” (231).