Oct. 1990: Uganda-based Rwanda Patriotic Front (RPF) invades Rwanda, demanding right to settle thousands of refugees, mainly Tutsis. Attack is repulsed.
Aug. 4, 1993: Government and RPF sign accord to end years of civil war, allowing for return of refugees. President Habyarimana is slow in implementing accord protocols.
Nov. 1, 1993: UN and Belgian forces take up positions in northern Rwanda to observe implementation of the peace accord.
Dec. 30, 1993-April 5, 1994: Transitional government fails to take off. Each side accuses the other of blocking its formation.
April 6, 1994: Habyarimana and Burundi's President Cyprien Ntaryamira are killed in a rocket attack. Habyarimana's death triggers violence between Hutus and Tutsis, resulting in the deaths of around 800,000 people. RPF starts new offensive.
April 7, 1994: Presidential guards kill Prime Minister Agathe Uwilingiwimana, a moderate Hutu who tried to calm ethnic tensions.
July 1994: RPF seizes control of Rwanda, driving the 40,000-strong Hutu army and over 2 million civilian Hutus into exile in Burundi, Tanzania, and Zaire.
Aug. 1996: Rwandan forces, disguised as Zairean rebels, invade Zaire. Thousands are killed while hundreds of thousands of Hutus return to Rwanda.
Dec. 27, 1996: Rwanda's first genocide trial is held by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), set up in 1995.
Population of Rwanda was approximately 7,500,000 of whom 6,877,500 were Hutus, 615,000 were Tutsis and 7,500 were Twas.
Three hundred years ago, the Hutus exchanged their land and services with the newly arrived Tutsis for cattle. The Tutsis then ruled as landlords but were later exploited by Belgian colonists. Since independence the minority Tutsis have dominated both government and army.