The Mille Collines and Kigali at War

Extract

As the tragic events of Rwanda started unfolding on April 6, 1994, I was in Kigali setting up a Postwar Rehabilitation and Development Program we had developed in collaboration with the Rwandan Ministries of Health and Defense, and ORTPN (the Rwandan Office of Tourism and National Parks). This program, implemented by a local NGO, included four components. The first consisted in the physical rehabilitation of institutions damaged in the war between October 1990 and March 1993, primarily hospitals, health centers and dispensaries in the Prefectures of Byumba and Ruhengeri. The first phase of this component had been completed by March 25, 1994, with funding from the Canadian Government and the EEC. Subsequent phases were intended to be program-oriented and to provide institutional support to these health facilities.