Name Augustin Bizimungu Rank Major-General | Relations Interahamwe Militia | |
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Born 28 August 1952 (age 71) Byumba prefecture, Mukaranje Commune, Mugina Secteur, Nyange Cellule, Rwanda ( 1952-08-28 ) Commands held Head of the Interahamwe militia Similar People Augustin Ndindiliyimana, Georges Rutaganda, Innocent Sagahutu, Paul Rusesabagina, Augustin Bizimana | ||
Service/branch Rwandan Defence Forces | ||
Augustin Bizimungu (born 28 August 1952) is a former general in the Rwandan Armed Forces (FAR). In 1994, he briefly served as chief of staff of the army. During this time, he trained the soldiers and militiamen who carried out the Rwandan Genocide.
Biography
Bizimungu was born in Byumba préfecture, Mukaranje Commune, Mugina Secteur, Nyange Cellule, Rwanda.
An ethnic Hutu, Bizimungu held the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel in the FAR on 6 April 1994. That day, following the death of army chief of staff Déogratias Nsabimana in a plane crash alongside President Juvénal Habyarimana, Bizimungu was promoted to Major-General and appointed as permanent chief of the army.
Upon fleeing the country following the RPF (Rwandan Patriotic Front) victory, he reportedly declared that "The RPF will rule over a desert."
On 12 April 2002, the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) issued an arrest warrant for Bizimungu, who was apparently working with the Angolan rebel movement UNITA. In August 2002, he was arrested by the Angolan government and taken to the U.N. War Crimes Tribunal in Tanzania. The trial adjourned until September 2008, whereupon Bizimungu was tried along with fellow FAR officers Augustin Ndindiliyimana (Chief of Staff of the National Gendarmerie), François-Xavier Nzuwonemeye (Commander of the Reconnaissance Battalion of the Rwandan Army) and Innocent Sagahutu (Second-in-Command of the Reconnaissance Battalion of the Rwandan Army). Bizimungu was sentenced to thirty years in prison for his part in the genocide on 17 May 2011.
Bizimungu is portrayed by Fana Mokoena in the 2004 movie Hotel Rwanda.