Bodies of dead Hutu Rwandan government soldiers lay scattered everywhere after the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), a Tutsi rebel group, liberated the capital, Kigali, on July 4, 1994.

　 After the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), a Tutsi rebel group, liberated the Rwandan capital, Kigali, on July 4, 1994, corpses of Hutu soldiers from the Rwandan government forces were found lying and scattered everywhere From April to June the RPF launched an offensive from northern Rwanda, gradually taking control of large From April to June, the RPF gradually brought large parts of Rwanda under its control. They surrounded Kigali, cutting off supply routes, and began fighting over the capital, Kigali, in mid-June. The RPF took control of Kigali on July 4, as Rwandan government forces focused more on genocide than fighting in Kigali.

　The Rwandan Patriotic Front was founded in December 1987 by exiled Rwandan Tutsis in Uganda in response to the Rwandan Hutu violence of the 1959-1962 Rwandan Hutu revolution; in 1990, the RPF overthrew the Hutu-dominated government as the Rwandan civil war broke out. Then, in 1994, genocide broke out against the Tutsis, which ended with the RPF overrunning the entire country on July 4. In the months after the RPF took control, RPF soldiers participated in the genocide, killing many of those who had supported the Rwandan Genocide, bringing the death toll to 100,000. Since then, the RPF has ruled Rwanda as a one-party dictatorship, and Paul Kagame, the leader of the RPF, has been Rwandan president since 2000.

　The Rwandan civil war became a major civil war between Rwandan government forces and the rebel Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) from October 1, 1990 to July 18, 1994; the RPF guerrilla war continued until mid-1992, when neither side was able to gain the upper hand. Peace negotiations ended temporarily with the signing of the Arusha Accords on August 4, 1993. The United Nations Assistance Mission in Rwanda (UNAMIR) was stationed in Rwanda from October 5, 1993 to March 1996 to oversee implementation of the Arusha Accords, but failed to intervene militarily in the Rwandan genocide of April 7 to July 19, 1994. The day after the assassination of President Habyarimana, the peace agreement was broken and anarchy ensued, with Hutu Rwandan government forces killing some 500,000 to 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus.