Paris ( CNN ) -- The missile that brought down the plane carrying the president of Rwanda more than 17 years ago was fired from a camp controlled by his own ethnic group and not by Tutsi rebels , attorneys for the rebels said Wednesday . The April 1994 crash of the plane near the capital , Kigali , and the death of then-President Juvenal Habyarimana , a member of the Hutu majority , was followed hours later by the start of mass killings . By the time they ended 100 days later , 800,000 people had died . Most of the dead were members of the country 's Tutsi minority , who were killed by Hutus . The killing of Tutsis and moderate Hutus by Hutu militants ended when the Rwandan Patriotic Front -- composed of Tutsis under the leadership of current President Paul Kagame -- halted the Hutu militants . Also on board the plane was then-Burundi President Cyprian Ntayamira . Ntayamira was also a Hutu . A report on the plane attack -- written as part of a French judicial investigation -- has not been released publicly . However , officials said experts appointed by French Judges Marc Trevidic and Nathalie Poux had identified Kanombe Military Barracks as the site from which the rocket was launched . The Kanombe camp at the time was controlled by `` Hutu extremists in the former Rwandan army and their European advisers , '' said Bernard Maignain and Leon-Lef Forster , attorneys for the Rwandan Patriotic Front , in a statement . `` The responsibility of the RPF in the attack is therefore dismissed . '' The experts and judges traveled to Rwanda in September 2010 to view the scene of the attack , the attorneys said . Once there , they had the opportunity to conduct field surveys and simulations , and `` they could also hear eyewitnesses who saw or heard the firing of missiles . `` It is clear from their analysis that the probable location of firing was strictly inaccessible at the time to the men of the RPF , '' Maignain and Forster said . In 2006 , French Judge Jean-Louis Bruguiere , who was previously in charge of the investigation , requested arrest warrants against nine Rwandan nationals belonging to the RPF , according to Maignain and Forster . Seven people are still `` under investigation , '' they said , but they also accused the former judge of dismissing all evidence suggesting the RPF might not have been the perpetrators of the attack . The latest report , the attorneys noted , is a `` turning point . '' The French Foreign Ministry declined to comment on the report , saying it was part of a judicial investigation started because the crew members of the downed plane were French . Asked about the Rwandan opposition 's request for an international inquiry into the report , the ministry said France supports the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda as a means to shed light on the Rwandan killings . Rwanda 's government welcomed the report . `` The crash served as an excuse for key perpetrators to execute a meticulously planned genocide against the Tutsi , '' the government 's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation said in a statement . The plane , which was struck as it prepared to land at Kigali International Airport , was bringing Habyarimana home from negotiations over the Arusha peace accords , which had created a power-sharing government between rebels and the Rwandan government . `` Today 's findings constitute vindication for Rwanda 's long-held position on the circumstances surrounding events of April 1994 , '' said Louise Mushikiwabo , foreign minister and government spokeswoman , in the statement . `` With this scientific truth , Judges Trevidic and Poux have slammed shut the door on the 17-year campaign to deny the genocide or blame its victims . It is now clear to all that the downing of the plane was a coup d'etat carried out by extremist Hutu elements and their advisers who controlled Kanombe Barracks . '' CNN 's Niki Cook contributed to this report .
The crash killed the then - presidents of Rwanda and Uganda . It sparked a wave of mass protests in Rwanda ; some people died . The downing of the plane was a Hutu coup d'etat , the media says .