The Social and Political Context
The Refugee Question and the RPF’s Choice of Armed Struggle
A Necessary Political Transition
The Arusha Negotiations and the Reconfiguration of Political Forces
Unspoken Terms in the Arusha Peace Accords and Obstructions in the Political Transition
Competition for Control of the Militias
The Downing of the Presidential Plane on 6 April 1994 and the
Military Crisis Committee
The Civilian Alternative
Installing the Interim Authorities
From Massacres to Genocide
The Interim Government at the Center of Power
War and the Fight for Supremacy
Truth, Justice, and the Politics of Memory

Conclusion
Updates for the Period 2010–2015

Appendix: Box 5
List of Boxes
List of Annexes
Notes
Glossary
Index

Table of contents of the first original edition in French :

Preface by Professor René Degni-Ségui
Foreword
A global approach and a re-framing of the analysis
Witness accounts and documents : questions of methodology

1. The social and political context
The demographic framework
Age-old conflicts and sponsored violence
A weighty political heritage
Fatal recourse to violence
The « Habyarimana system »
The ethnic question and the various forms of social discrimination
An MRND challenged by regionalism

2. The refugee question and the RPF’s choice of armed struggle
Unexpected arrival of a new protagonist
The Rwandophone populations in Zaïre and Uganda
Regional negotiations from 1988 onward
The impasse linked to the « strategy of return »
The ascendancy of the « Ugandan stakes »
Regionalization and war as long-term strategies
Civil war and domestic democratization
Tensions within the FAR and the definition of the « enemy »

3. Mandatory political transition
Establishing a « renovated » MRND party
Renovation faces the challenge of multi-partyism
Fragmentations in the political landscape
A new political dispensation « unleashed »
Presidential power
Diffuse power, with complex avenues of expression
The Akazu, the first circle of power
The regional circuit of power
The « mouvance présidentielle »
Universal suffrage and the « democratic » viewpoints
The stakes in controlling the mass media
Attempts at liberalization
The presidential response and reclaiming the mass media
4. The Arusha negotiations and the realignment of political forces
Negotiations overrun by military constraints

Ideal positioning for the RPF
Collapse of a common front in the opposition
Shake-up in the Military High Command
Remobilization for the MRND and reaffirmation of the President
The « Protocol on Power sharing »
Rising tensions and reconfigurations in the political landscape
Getting rid of Dismas Nsengiyaremye
The MRND party congress of 3 – 4 July 1993
The « extraordinary » MDR party congress of 23 – 24 July 1993

5. Unspoken presumptions in the Arusha Accords and efforts to forestall the political transition
Implementing Accords that were feared by all
Rapprochement between the MRND and the pro-Hutu wings of the internal opposition parties
Impossibility of setting up the transitional institutions
The RPF strategy of destabilizing the domestic political scene
The MRND strategy of splitting the opposition
Strategies for political survival of the « democrats »

6. Competition for control of the militias
Multiple sponsorships
From « militants » to militiamen
The Interahamwe youth wing, « integrated » with the MRND
The control of financial resources
Military training and weapons distributions

7. The downing of the presidential plane on 6 April 1994 and establishing a Military Crisis Committee
An overview of complementary theories concerning responsibility for the attack
Erroneous and unnecessarily perilous choices
The informal meeting of the Army High Command
The reaction of the presidential family
The costs of revenge
The conditions for the succession
Setting up the attack, a well-tended enigma

8. The political alternative
Sidestepping the logic of the Arusha Accords
« Put civilians in the forefront »
The political shortcomings of the « fait accompli»

9. Installing the interim authorities
The composition of the Interim Government
From revenge to genocide
Impossibility of negotiations between the belligerents

10. The political leanings of the French Embassy
An account of forced evacuation
Saturday 2 April – Wednesday 6 April – Thursday 7 April – Friday 8 April –
Saturday 9 April – Sunday 10 April – Monday 11 April – Tuesday 12 April
Arrival of Rwandan political figures at the French Embassy

French Embassy approval for the Interim Government
Selective treatment and evacuations
Receiving the « opposition » at the French Embassy
What motivation for such selective solidarity ?

11. From massacres to genocide
The ambivalence and weakness of the Interim Government in confronting the massacres
The « Pacification Tour » of 10 – 12 April 1994
The stakes and the responsibilities of genocide

The risk of genocide : underestimated or fully anticipated by the RPF ?
The genocidal project and its architects

12. The Interim Government at the center of power
The « true mandate » of the Interim Government
Activism, fully engaged
Coordinating collective government action
The army under civilian control ?
Théoneste Bagosora
Controlling the militia forces
New directions in coordinating the « civil self defense »
The « government of genocide »

13. War, the divining rod for choosing the candidates for the succession
Sharing the public coffers
Nduga versus Rukiga
The irreversible ruptures of 17 May
Purifying the officer corps and reliance on « civilian self-defense »
The necessary alliance of Édouard Karemera and Joseph Nzirorera
The institutionalization of « civilian self-defense »
The symbolic coronation of Joseph Nzirorera

14. Truth and Justice : the « battle for memory »
An exceptional, though selective, project for accountability
The vagaries of international justice
Choosing the targets of investigation
The financial angle remains still-born
A single-minded justice
For justice, suppress the truth ?
The Bagosora judgment or the limits in re-writing history
The instrumentalization of the ICTR

Conclusion

Table of abbreviations and acronyms
Glossary
List of boxed commentary
List of annexes
Index of proper names