April 20, 1994: Queen Rosalie Gicanda assassinated, over 20,000 people burnt to death in church compound

April 20, 1994, is when Queen Rosalie Gicanda was assassinated in Butare as the Genocide against the Tutsi continued to rage across the country. She was killed at the instructions of Captain Ildephonse Nizeyimana, a military officer who worked at École des Sous-Officiers (ESO), a military training school based in Butare. ALSO READ: April 19, 1994: Tutsi ordered to dig own graves, soldiers shell Amahoro stadium Nizeyimana instructed the soldiers to kill Queen Rosalie Gicanda at her home which was near Ngoma Commune office. Those who went to execute Nizeyimana's order include Lieutenant Bizimana, nicknamed Rwatsi, Lieutenant Gakwerere, Corporal Aloys Mazimpaka, and Dr. Kageruka. Later, after the genocide, Nizeyimana was convicted of genocide crimes by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) and sentenced to 35 years in prison. After the Queen's murder, interim president Theodore Sindikubwabo and his government continued to incite the Hutu to exterminate the Tutsi. On April 20, 1994, Sikubwabo visited Ndora and Shyanda areas in Gisagara District to urge the Hutu to exterminate the Tutsi. ALSO READ: April 18, 1994: Interim president Sindikubwabo, Karemera incite the masses to commit genocide in rural Rwanda On the same day, in Butare town, Prefect Nsabimana, who had been instated by Sindikubwabo the previous night, held a meeting which aimed at planning how the Genocide was to be carried out in Butare prefecture. In various areas of the country massacres against the Tutsi were continuing. For example, at Mugombwa Church in Gisagara District, the Tutsi who had taken refuge there were murdered. An Italian priest named Titiano Pagolalo had confined them in the church, locked all the doors and handed the keys to a notorious killer businessman called Byiyingoma. When Interahamwe and the military arrived at the church, they demolished the church gates using grenades and then burnt the church using fuel. Approximately 26,700 Tutsi were killed at Mugombwa Parish. ALSO READ: April 17, 1994: Genocidal government appoints extremist officials to expedite killings In Busekanka near Lake Kivu, many Tutsi were killed while fleeing to Zaïre (current DR Congo), while others were taken from their homes and killed at the lake. There was no roadblock at the site, but Interahamwe would rush to the site immediately whenever they saw the Tutsi fleeing. ALSO READ: Thirty years of the crumbling of genocidaires and ever-present denial In Ruhango District, in Rutabo areas, the killers dug a huge pit in which the Tutsi were thrown in, dead and alive. The pit was excavated near Rutabo Primary School by a teacher named Jacques Nsabimana. The Tutsi who were killed at the school site were from areas including Ntongwe, Mugina, and Bugesera. At Nyumba Catholic Parish in Gishamvu areas of Butare, the birthplace of Jean Kambanda, the former Prime Minister of the genocidal government, between 25,000 and 30,000 Tutsi were shot dead by the killers. ALSO READ: April 16, 1994: The atrocious Rukumberi killings take shape Among the killers who carried out the massacre was Pascal Kambanda, the former mayor of Gishamvu Commune, Assiel Simbarikure, a local leader from Busoro, Pierre Celestin Nzavugejo, a medical assistant officer at Busoro Health Center, and Laurent Kubwimana, a teacher.

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April 20, 1994: Queen Rosalie Gicanda assassinated, over 20,000 people burnt to death in church compound