 The cease-fire ended on 6 April 1994 when Habyarimana's plane was shot down near Kigali Airport, killing him.The shooting down of the plane served as the catalyst for the Rwandan genocide, which began within a few hours.Over the course of approximately 100 days, between 500,000 and 1,000,000 Tutsi and politically moderate Hutu were killed in well-planned attacks on the orders of the interim government.