HC Deb 17 June 2004 vol 422 c1071W
Mrs. Iris Robinson

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs when the United Kingdom Government first received reports of acts of genocide being carried out in Rwanda; what action the Government took in immediate response; and when. [177663]

Mr. Mullin

Rwandan President Habyarimana, and his Burundian counterpart President Cyprien Ntaryamira, were killed on 6 April 1994 when their aircraft was shot down over Kigali. Very soon afterwards, the British Government became aware of media and NGO reports of large-scale violence and mass killings in Rwanda. The then Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Mark Lennox-Boyd) set out the Government's position and reaction to these events in a debate on Rwanda on 24 May 1994,Official Report, columns 312–15.