Between 9 and 11 May 1997, at least 1,430 civilians were killed by RPA soldiers in the secteurs of Ryinyo, Kintobo, Gatore, Gatovu, Rukoma, Gitwa, Runigi and Mukamira in Nkuli commune, in Ruhengeri. Amnesty International received a list, drawn up by local sources, of the names of around 525 victims of these massacres – including at least 90 children – primarily in Ryinyo secteur.
In addition to those named, at least 553 were killed in Kintobo secteur, 127 in Gatovu secteur, 120 in Rukoma secteur and 114 in Runigi secteur. Around the same period, 423 people were killed in neighbouring Nyamutera commune; 123 of them were burned alive in houses which were deliberately set on fire.
The incidents mentioned above represent only a small fraction of deliberate and arbitrary killings, massacres and extrajudicial executions of unarmed Hutu civilians in Rwanda, by soldiers of the Rwandan Patriotic Army (RPA), within days of the return of the first wave of refugees from the former Zaire in November 1996, especially in the northwestern préfectures of Ruhengeri and Gisenyi.
Killings and “disappearances” in other parts of the country have also increased.
At the same time, the level of arrests countrywide continued to rise, reports of ill-treatment became more frequent and prison conditions continued to cause the deaths of hundreds of Hutu prisoners as the total prison population in acknowledged detention centres exceeded 120,000.
At least 6,000 unarmed Hutu civilians were reported to Amnesty International to have been killed in Rwanda between January and August 1997. However, the real figure of unarmed Hutu civilians killed is considerably higher than that as the 6,000 only refers to specific cases reported to Amnesty International during this period. It does not include many other cases which went unreported.
Amnesty International, 1997, RWANDA : Ending the silence. AFR 47/32/97