Impuzamugambi
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The Impuzamugambi (Kinyarwanda: "those with the same goal") was a Rwandan Hutu Power militia existing from 1992-1994. It was the paramilitary wing of the Coalition for the Defence of the Republic, a more radical offshoot of the ruling MRND.
Together with the Interahamwe, the Impuzamugambi participated in the Rwandan Genocide. Like the Interahamwe, they didn't have uniforms but could sometimes be seen wearing their party's merchandise, and thus many members were able to escape into Zaire along with Hutu refugees when the war ended. Hassan Ngeze and Jean-Bosco Barayagwiza are known to have been commanders of the militia.
While the Impuzamugambi was smaller than the Interahamwe, its killings were more brutal because its members had a more extreme anti-Tutsi ideology. They were largely dissolved after the genocide ended in July 1994.
Biography edit
Like the Interahamwe, the Impuzamugambi was trained and equipped by the Rwandan Government Forces (RGF) and the Presidential Guard of Rwanda's president and MRND leader Juvénal Habyarimana. When the genocide started in April 1994, the Interahamwe and the Impuzamugambi acted in close collaboration and largely merged their structures and activities, though some distinction was still evident in differences in their clothing. Some génocidaires participated with both militias in the killings of Tutsis and moderate Hutu. After the main period of genocide, members of both militias as well as large parts of the Hutu population fled from Rwanda to the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Of the leadership of the CDR, Hassan Ngeze and Jean Bosco Barayagwiza were greatly responsible for commanding the Impuzamugambi. Both were found guilty in 2003 by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) of planning and leading the genocide, incitement of genocide, and crimes against humanity. They were both sentenced to life imprisonment. The sentence against Barayagwiza was later reduced to 35 years due to a partial violation of due process. After deducting time already served, he will stay in prison for at least 27 years.