Dictionary of Genocide - D Ank Unlimited

movement’s genesis could be found in a number of junior soccer clubs, one of which, the
Loisirs (Leisure) club, was coached by one Robert “Jerry” Kajuga (b. 1960). Under his
direction, the Interahamwe was transformed from a youth organization when it was
founded in 1990, to a radical Hutu killing machine. Originally trained by the French at
the request of the government of Rwandan president Juvenal Habyarimana
(1937–1994), the Interahamwe formed the shock troops of the Hutu war of extermination
against the Tutsi. The Interahamwe was the most radical of the many factions
opposed to the Arusha peace process of 1992, in which Habyarimana found himself
negotiating with the émigré Tutsi organization known as the Rwandan Patriotic Front
(RPF). In the pregenocide years of 1992–1994, the Interahamwe engaged in lethal street
fights hoping to upset the social order. Their source of weapons was funneled to them
through the army, allowing them to engage in daily murder sprees employing machetes
and other implements. To keep the Interahamwe in check, there were periodic purges of
the most extreme members, who wished to proceed at a pace faster than that preferred
by their political leaders. When the call for action finally came after Habyarimana’s
assassination on April 6, 1994, none were more bloodthirsty than the Interahamwe. From
April 6 forward, Interahamwe killing units were left to their own devices; they knew their
instructions and required no further prompting. Only one word describes them: merciless.
The other killing factions such as the Impuzamugambi, another anti-Tutsi extremist
militia that worked closely with the Interahamwe, were also brutal. Right up to the end
of the genocide, all members and cells of the Interahamwe were carefully monitored by
Joseph Nzirorera (b. 1950), the secretary-general of the Mouvement Révolutionnaire
National pour le Développement (MRND, the National Revolutionary Movement for
Development), even though the day-to-day affairs of the Interahamwe were coordinated
by its vice president, Georges Rutaganda (b. 1958). The Interahamwe forcefully recruited
peasants in order to encompass as much of the population as possible within the genocidal
project; in this way, genocide became civic virtue, of sorts, to be practiced by all.
When the killing ceased, many of the Interahamwe members managed to escape to eastern
Congo. What is most significant about the existence of the Interahamwe is that it
demonstrated that the genocide was far from spontaneous; indeed, it was a carefully
planned campaign of extermination that had its executioners prepared and waiting to go
into action long before the trigger on the night of April 6, 1994.
INTERFET. An initiative by the Australian government of prime minister John
Howard (b. 1939) to reestablish a peaceful regime in East Timor after the failure of the
United Nations Security Council’s own mandated peacekeeping operation, UNAMET
(United Nations Mission in East Timor), to curb militia and other violence prior to and
during the territory’s referendum on independence from Indonesia in September 1999.
INTERFET (International Force in East Timor), the largest single deployment without
reinforcement of Australian combat troops since the Second World War, was commanded
by Lieutenant General Peter Cosgrove (b. 1947), subsequently the head of the Australian
Defence Force. It was a multilateral force involving twenty-two countries in all. The
deployment was successful in establishing peace and security through a credible and deterrent
presence in all parts of East Timor, including the West Timor enclave of Oecussi.
INTERFET’s tasks included reconstruction activities following the widespread militiagenerated
destruction accompanying the referendum, assistance with administration,
policing and law and order functions, and detection and investigation into allegations of
INTERFET
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