That same night, civilians began calling RPA soldiers stationed at the CND (Conseil National pour le Développement) to report that the Presidential Guard (GP) and the Interahamwe militia had started killing Tutsi civilians and opposition ministers who had disagreed with Habyarimana.
The attackers began with those ministers, especially the Minister of Information and the Prime Minister, to prevent them from going on air and informing Rwandans about what had happened to the President, what should be done next, or what the Arusha accords stipulated for such a crisis.
According to the Arusha accords, in the event of a major crisis like this, a joint political and military council composed of both parties (the government and FPR-Inkotanyi) was to convene.
This council was to include six representatives from the FPR-Inkotanyi and six from the Government side to decide on the next steps together.
Around 10:00 p.m., the CND building came under attack. RPA soldiers created defensive positions at the roundabout leading to the GP camp and other nearby locations to prevent government forces from storming the CND. No soldier loyal to Habyarimana managed to breach the CND defenses.
By around 2:00 a.m. on April 7, Tito Rutaremara called Jacques-Roger Booh-Booh, the head of the United Nations Assistance Mission for Rwanda (UNAMIR) and representative of the UN Secretary-General, asking whether anything had been done to stop the killings, particularly of the Tutsi, and the attacks on the CND.
But Booh-Booh responded ignorantly claiming not to know anything. Immediately afterward, Tito called General Roméo Dallaire, the commander of the UN peacekeeping forces in Rwanda but he, too, said they were just come out of a meeting at the French Embassy.
When Tito pressed further and asked who was at that meeting. This is what Dallaire told him;
'Some senior Rwandan army officers, Jacques-Roger Booh-Booh, the French Ambassador, the American Ambassador, the German Ambassador, and the Tanzanian Ambassador. They formed a temporary military command structure led by General Gatsinzi, with General Ndindiliyimana as his deputy.'
He was informed that at that moment, Ndindiliyimana is in charge as Gatsinzi was in Butare and unable to travel due to security concerns. Dallaire then gave Tito Ndindiliyimana's phone number and asked in case he wanted to know anything further.
Tito asked Ndindiliyimana, 'People are being killed by Interahamwe and the Presidential Guard. Some ministers are already dead, and we're being shot at. Since we've heard you're now leading the military council running the country, who has the power to stop the Presidential Guard from killing Tutsi?'
General Ndindiliyimana replied that the only person who could stop the GP was Col. Théoneste Bagosora and went ahead to share Tito two of Bagosora's phone numbers.
Before ending the call, Tito asked Ndindiliyimana, 'Why didn't you follow what the Arusha Accords outlined for such situations?' to which Ndindiliyimana responded by saying that it was urgent and a matter for politicians.
Bagosora was a powerful figure in the military, having held several senior roles. He was also from Gisenyi, the same region as President Habyarimana and many other top officials.
In January 1993, he had been part of the Rwandan delegation at the Arusha peace talks, where power-sharing agreements were being finalized.
When Bagosora finally answered Tito's call he said, 'Let us see,' then immediately hung up. After about an hour, Tito called him back, but Bagosora didn't pick up. Tito then tried the second number, and this time Bagosora answered again.
Tito remembers asking him why the GP are still killing people, et he had promised to intervene but nothing had changed. He recalled inquiring whether are supposed to just watch while people are murdered to which he responded that 'it's a serious situation' before hanging up on him again.
By the morning of April 7, 1994, Habyarimana's military had cut off all communication lines used by FPR-Inkotanyi leaders, preventing them from speaking with Rwandans in Kigali. They were left with only radio equipment as their means of communication.
From that night onward, Tutsi were systematically murdered across different parts of Kigali and in several other prefectures, as the genocide began in full view of the world.
IGIHE
