The cease-fire ended on 6 April 1994 when President Juvénal Habyarimana 's plane was shot down near Kigali Airport , killing him and Cyprien Ntaryamira , the President of Burundi . It is still unknown who launched the attack ; the RPF blamed Hutu extremists in the Rwandan government , while the government claimed that the RPF was responsible for the attack . 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 , an estimated 1,000,000 Tutsi were killed , on the orders of the interim government . The Tutsi RPF restarted their offensive , and took control of the country methodically by cutting off government supply routes and taking advantage of the deteriorating social order . On 7 June , the Hutu Archbishop of Kigali , Vincent Nsengiyumva , was murdered near the Kabgayi church center with two bishops and thirteen priests by members of the RPF , who were said to have believed the prelates were involved with the killing of their families . The RPF victory was complete when Kigali was captured on 4 July and the rest of the country on 18 July . The RPF 's Pasteur Bizimungu was installed as President of Rwanda , with Kagame appointed Vice President . The RPF was split into a political division which retained the RPF name , and a military one , called the Rwandan Patriotic Army ( now the Rwandan Defence Forces ) . In February 1998 Kagame was elected president of the RPF , replacing Alexis Kanyarengwe , and in March 2000 he became the national President . Following a constitutional referendum in 2003 , Kagame was elected President with 95 % of the vote . The RPF formed a coalition with several smaller parties , which received 74 % of the vote in the 2003 parliamentary elections , winning 40 of the 53 elected seats in the Chamber of Deputies . The coalition won 42 seats in the 2008 parliamentary elections , and Kagame was re-elected as President in 2010 with 93 % of the vote . The 2013 parliamentary elections saw the RPF-led coalition win 41 seats
Rwandan genocide
Rwandan genocide
Rwandan Patriotic Front