In 1993 , Ambassador Moose was appointed Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs by President Bill Clinton . Bushnell accompanied Moose to serve as Deputy Assistant Secretary . Bushnell 's time in Washington was marked by extreme tension in Africa . On October 3 , 1993 , 18 U.S. soldiers were killed and 73 wounded in an attempt to apprehend warlord Mohamed Farrah Aidid at the Battle of Mogadishu in Somalia . The American public was appalled at the deaths and support for American involvement in African affairs suffered as a result . It was against this backdrop that the Rwandan genocide began . On April 6 , 1994 , Rwandan President Juvénal Habyarimana and Cyprien Ntaryamira , the President of Burundi , were both killed when their plane was shot down on approach to Kigali Airport in Rwanda . Responsibility for the assassinations has never been clearly established , however , the resulting chaos was the catalyst for the massacre of Tutsis at the hands of Rwanda 's Hutu majority
Rwandan genocide
Rwandan genocide
Prudence Bushnell