Rwanda - Course and interventions

The question asks about the RPF's initial operational priority, before any broader offensive developed. This requires distinguishing between the RPF's early rescue-focused objectives and its later territorial campaign.

After Habyarimana's assassination on 6 April 1994 ended the ceasefire, the RPF launched operations from its northern strongholds. Its first objectives were defensive and rescue-oriented: relieving RPF units and civilians who were under attack in Kigali and Byumba.

Only as the Hutu extremist forces were pushed back did the RPF expand into a broader offensive strategy of encircling and capturing strategic territory nationwide. The capture of Kigali on 4 July 1994 was the culmination of this later phase, not the initial goal.

The correct answer is relieving besieged RPF forces and threatened civilians in Kigali and Byumba, which accurately describes the RPF's early, rescue-focused operational priority before the campaign expanded.

The question asks specifically about the RPF's initial operational priority when it resumed military action in April 1994 — before the broader offensive phase began.

'Capturing the border town of Gisenyi' is incorrect — Gisenyi was where RTLM relocated after Kigali fell on 4 July 1994, and it was not an early RPF operational target.

'Destroying RTLM transmitters' is incorrect — the RPF did shell the RTLM station in Kigali early in the genocide, but this was not described as the RPF's primary operational priority; it was incidental to the military advance.

'Securing the Rwanda-Zaire border' is incorrect — this was a consequence of the RPF's later advance, relevant to the question of génocidaires escaping, not an early priority in April 1994.

The remaining option — relieving besieged RPF forces and threatened civilians in Kigali and Byumba — matches the documented initial phase of the RPF's military campaign in April 1994.

The question asks what actually ended the genocide, requiring students to distinguish between the military outcome and other incomplete or post-hoc international responses.

The genocide ended because the RPF won a military campaign, capturing Kigali on 4 July 1994 and collapsing the interim Hutu government and the genocidal command structures it directed. No negotiated ceasefire or UN enforcement action achieved this.

UNAMIR remained under a restrictive Chapter VI mandate throughout and was never authorized for enforcement action. Operation Turquoise operated in a limited southwestern zone from late June and did not halt killings nationwide. The ICTR was established in November 1994, after the genocide had already ended.

The correct answer is that the RPF captured Kigali on 4 July 1994, defeating the coordinating forces and ending organized genocidal violence — not any form of international intervention or legal action.

The question asks what actually caused the genocide to end, emphasizing the distinction between the RPF's military victory and other international responses.

'The UN Security Council authorized UNAMIR to use force' is incorrect — UNAMIR remained a Chapter VI peacekeeping mission throughout. The Security Council actually reduced UNAMIR to 270 personnel on 21 April 1994, the opposite of authorizing enforcement.

'Operation Turquoise halted the killing nationwide' is incorrect — Turquoise was a French-led operation that began only in late June 1994 in a limited southwestern zone. It did not stop the genocide across Rwanda.

'ICTR indictments caused the interim government to surrender' is incorrect — the ICTR was not established until November 1994, months after the genocide had ended. It played no role in stopping the killing.

The only historically accurate option is the RPF's capture of Kigali on 4 July 1994, which defeated the interim government and ended the organized genocide — the single most effective force in ending the killing.