Théoneste Bagosora (16 August 1941 – 25 September 2021) was a Rwandan military officer.
1964
In 1964 he graduated from the École des officiers (Officers' School) in Kigali with the rank of second lieutenant.
1970
On 29 April 1970, he was promoted to the rank of captain.
1973
Bagosora was born in the same northern region as Juvénal Habyarimana, the president of Rwanda from 1973 to 1994.
He was linked to le Clan de Madame, known later as the akazu, a group associated with Agathe Habyarimana, the president's wife, who was at the nexus of the Hutu Power ideology.
1982
In 1982, he graduated with a commendation from the Institut des hautes études de défense nationale in France.
During his military career, he served as second-in-command of the École supérieure militaire (Superior Military School) in Kigali and as commander of Kanombe military camp.
1989
He became a full colonel in October 1989.
1992
He was appointed to the position of directeur du cabinet (chief of staff) in the Ministry of Defence in June 1992.
1993
Despite officially retiring from the military on 23 September 1993, he retained this post until fleeing the country in July 1994.
"It seems that, in as much as there was a general organizer of the whole operation, this distinction has to go to Colonel Théoneste Bagosora."
- Gérard Prunier
Although he was present at the negotiations of the Arusha Accords in August 1993, he never supported them.
He is widely cited as saying, in the context of the Arusha Accords, that he was returning to Rwanda to "prepare for the apocalypse", but that is apocryphal.
Luc Marchal, a Belgian officer, who served as Kigali sector commander in UNAMIR, reported that Bagosora told him that the only way to solve Rwanda's problems was to get rid of the Tutsi.
Bagosora was responsible for establishing paramilitary "self-defense" units, the Interahamwe, that would operate in every commune in the country.
These groups were to act in concert with the local police, militias, and military authorities.
Bagosora was also responsible for distributing arms and machetes throughout Rwanda.
Between January 1993 and March 1994, Rwanda imported more than 500,000 machetes, twice the number imported in previous years.
1994
He was chiefly known for his key role in the 1994 Rwandan genocide for which he was sentenced to life imprisonment by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR).
At about 8:15 pm on the evening of 6 April 1994, President Habyarimana was flying back to Kigali after a meeting when his plane was struck by two missiles fired from the ground.
The plane crashed, killing everyone on board.
The position of the American and Rwandan governments is that the missiles were fired from the Kanombe barracks, which were controlled by the Presidential Guard, but that conclusion is disputed.
News of the President's death was broadcast and the killings began.
After the assassination, Colonel Bagosora along with Colonel Rwagafilita gathered supporters and convened a meeting of a Crisis Committee.
Roméo Dallaire, the UN commander was invited, and arrived to find the senior leadership of the Rwandan army.
Dallaire rejected Bagosora's proposal of having the military take control of the political situation until they could hand it over to the politicians and he reminded him that Rwanda still had a government headed by Prime Minister Agathe Uwilingiyimana.
Bagosora responded that she was incapable of governing the nation.
A few hours later, Madame Agathe was murdered with her husband by members of the Presidential Guard and the army.
After Bagosora's failed attempt to have the military take over the role of government, the group proceeded to pick a provisional government.
The interim government was a multiparty group, but all came from the hardliner sections of their respective parties.
Massacres began all over the country.
Many prominent Tutsis and moderate Hutus were killed right away, their names and addresses having been on lists.
Radio Mille Collines broadcast incitements to murder.
Trucks began arriving to pick up scores of bodies.
2011
In 2011, the sentence was reduced to 35 years' imprisonment on appeal.
He was due to be imprisoned until he was 89.
According to René Lemarchand, Bagosora was "the chief organizer of the killings".
On 25 September 2021, he died in a prison hospital in Mali, where he was being treated for heart issues.
Bagosora was born in Giciye in what is now Nyabihu District, Western Province, Rwanda.
