Timeline of Rwanda

COLONIALISM

• 1918 - Under the Treaty of Versailles the former German colony of Rwanda-Urundi is made a United Nations protectorate to be governed by Belgium. The two territories (later become Rwanda and Burudni) are administered separately under two different Tutsi monarchs. Both Germany and Belgium turned the traditional Hutu-Tutsi relationship into a class system. The minority Tutsi (14%) are favored over the Hutus (85%) and goven privileges and western-style education. The Belgains used the Tutsi minority to enforce their rule. 
• 1926 - Belgains introduce a system of ethic identity cards differentiating Hutus from Tutsis. 
• 1957 - PARMEHUTU is formed while Rwanda is still under Belgain rule. 
• 1959 - Hutus rebel against the Belgain colonial power and the Tutsi elite; 150,000 Tutsis flee to Burundi.
• 1960 - Hutus win municipal elections organized by Belgain colonial rulers. 

INDEPENDENCE

• 1961-1962 - Belgium withdraws. Rwanda and Burundi become two separate and independent countries. A Hutu revolution in Rwanda installs a new president. 
• 1963 - Further massacre of Tutsi, this time in response to military attack by exiled Tutsi in Burundi. Again more refugees leave the country. It is estimated that by the mid-1960s half of the Tutsi population is living outside Rwanda. 
• 1967 - Renewed massacres of Tutsis.
• 1973 - Purge of Tutsis from universities. Fresh outbreak of killings, again directed at the Tutsi community. The army cheif of staff, General Juvenal Habyarimana, seizes power, pledging to restore order. He sets up a one-party state. Apolicy of ethnic quotas is entrenched in all public service employment. Tutsi are restricted to nine percent of available jobs. 
• 1975 - National Revolutionary Movement for Development (NRMD) is formed. 
• 1986 - In Uganda, Rwandan exiles are among the victorious troops of Yoweri Museveni's National Resistance Army who take power, overthrowing the director Milton Obote. 
• 1990 - Forces of the rebel, mainly Tutsi, Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) invade Rwanda from Uganda.
• July 1990 - Under pressure from Western aid donors, Habyarimana concedes the principle of multi-party democracy. 
• October 1990 - RPF guerrillas invade Rwanda for Uganda. 
• 1990-1991 - Rwanda army begins to train. 
• November 1991 - Dr. Leon Mugesera appeals to Hutus to send the Tutsis back to Ethiopia via the rivers. 
• February 1993 - French forces are again called in to help the government side. 
• August 1993 - Habyarimana and e RPF sign a peace accord that allows for the return os refugees  and a coalition Hutu-PRF government. 2500 U.N. troops are deployed in Kigali. 
• September 1993 - March 1994 - Habyarimana stalls on setting up a power-sharing government. Extremist radio, station, radio mille collines, begins broadcasting exhortations to attack the Tutsis. 
• March 1994 - Many Rwandan human rights activists evacuate their their families from Kigali believing massacres are imminent. 
• April 6, 1994 - President Habyarimana and the president of Burundi are killed when Habyarimana's plane is shot down near Kigali Airport. That night the killing begins.