On April 6 , 1994 , President Habyarimana 's plane was shot down by surface-to-air missiles as it approached the Kigali Airport for landing . On board the plane with Habyarimana were the President of Burundi Cyprien Ntaryamira , the Rwandan Army Chief of Staff Déogratias Nsabimana , and Colonel Elie Sagatwa , the head of presidential security . The wreckage landed in the garden of the presidential palace and all on board were killed . The Rwandan genocide started on April 6 , 1994 . On April 7 , 1994 , the Presidential Guard assassinated Prime Minister Agathe Uwilingiyimana along with many other ministers , mainly those from political parties different from that of the assassinated Habyarimana and those slated to play important roles in the transitional government that had been planned to be instated on April 8 . Ten Belgian UN peacekeepers were also killed . Interahamwe hunted down Tutsi and began killing them at the start of the genocide . Though Rusesabagina was Hutu ( his father was Hutu and his mother Tutsi ) , his wife Tatiana was a Tutsi and his children considered mixed . Due to this , he was unable to escape from the war zone with his family
Rwandan genocide
Rwandan genocide
Paul Rusesabagina