April 21, 1994

Rwandan genocide

ICRC warns that tens, possibly hundreds of thousands, have been killed in Rwanda

People whom Kigali's surgeons had saved could not leave the hospital: the ICRC warned that stepping outside meant almost certain death.

21 April 1994: press release no. 1772

The International Committee of the Red Cross issued press release no. 1772 from Geneva on 21 April 1994, warning that "tens, maybe hundreds of thousands" had been killed during the preceding two weeks of massacres in Rwanda. It said the exact number of victims would never be known.

The ICRC did not identify all of the estimated dead as Tutsi. Tutsi were the principal targets of the genocide, and moderate Hutu were murdered as well.

Wounded who could not leave

The release reported several hundred thousand displaced people massed in northern and southern Rwanda. In Kigali, it said, wounded people could neither safely reach hospitals nor leave after treatment.

About 30 ICRC delegates had been working since the violence began, alongside Rwandese Red Cross volunteers and a French Médecins Sans Frontières team, despite attacks on medical transport. The ICRC described their effort as a drop in the ocean.

The same day, in New York

Separately on 21 April, the UN Security Council adopted Resolution 912, authorising a reduction of UNAMIR to 270 personnel of all ranks and limiting its duties principally to mediation, feasible humanitarian relief and monitoring. The reduction was not a consequence of the ICRC's warning; the two decisions simply fell on the same date.

Philippe Gaillard, head of the ICRC delegation in Kigali, publicly used the word "genocide" on Radio France Internationale the following day.

Sources

Researched 23 Aug 2026 7 sources 2 audit passes

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