Radio Télévision Libre des Mille Collines significant event Rwandan genocide
Prior to the genocide
Planning for RTLM began in 1992 by Hutu hard-liners, in response to the increasingly non-partisan stance of Radio Rwanda and growing popularity of Rwandese Patriotic Front's (RPF) Radio Muhabura. RTLM was established the next year, and began broadcasting in July 1993. The station railed against the on-going peace talks between the predominantly Tutsis RPF and President Juvénal Habyarimana, whose family supported the radio station. It became a popular station since it offered frequent contemporary musical selections, unlike state radio, and quickly developed a faithful audience among young Rwandans, who later made up the bulk of the Interahamwe militia.Félicien Kabuga was allegedly heavily involved in the founding and bankrolling of RTLM, as well as Kangura magazine. In 1993, at an RTLM fundraising meeting organized by the MRND, Felicien Kabuga allegedly publicly defined the purpose of RTLM as the defence of Hutu Power.The station is considered to have preyed upon the deep animosities and prejudices of many Hutus. The hateful rhetoric was placed alongside the sophisticated use of humor and popular Zairean music. It frequently referred to Tutsis as "cockroaches" (example: "You [Tutsis] are cockroaches! We will kill you!").
Critics claim that the Rwandan government fostered the creation of RTLM as "Hate Radio", to circumvent the fact they had committed themselves to a ban against "harmful radio propaganda" in the UN's March 1993 joint communiqué in Dar es Salaam. However RTLM director Ferdinand Nahimana claimed that the station was founded primarily to counter the propaganda by RPF's Radio Muhabura.In January 1994, the station broadcast messages berating UNAMIR commander Roméo Dallaire for failing to prevent the killing of approximately 50 people in a UN-demilitarized zone.After Habyarimana's private plane was shot down on April 6, 1994, RTLM joined the chorus of voices blaming Tutsis rebels, and began calling for a "final war" to "exterminate" the Tutsis.During the genocide against Tutsis in Rwanda
During the genocide, the RTLM acted as a source for propaganda by inciting hatred and violence against Tutsis, against Hutus who were for the peace accord, against Hutus who married Tutsis, and by advocating the annihilation of all Tutsis in Rwanda. The RTLM reported the latest massacres, victories, and political event in a way that promoted their anti-Tutsi agenda. In an attempt to dehumanize and degrade, the RTLM consistently referred to Tutsis and the RPF as 'cockroaches' during their broadcasts. The music of Hutu Simon Bikindi was played frequently. He had two songs, "Bene Sebahinzi" ("Sons of the Father of the Farmers"), and "Nanga Abahutu" ("I Hate Hutus"), which were later interpreted as inciting hatred against the Tutsis and genocide.
One of the major reasons that RTLM was so successful in communication was because other forms of news sources such as televisions and newspapers were not able to be as popularized because of lack of resources. In addition to this communication barrier, areas where there were high rates of illiteracy and lack of education amongst the citizens remain some of the most violent areas during the genocide against Tutsis. The villages outside of the transmission zone of RTLM experienced spillover violence from villages that actually received the radio transmissions. An estimated 10% of all the violence within the Genocide against Tutsis resulted from the hateful radio transmissions sent out from RTLM. Not only did RTLM increase general violence, but full radio coverage areas increased the number of persons prosecuted for any violence by about 62–69%. However, a recent paper questions the findings of that study.Following the genocide against Tutsis of Rwanda in 1994, the first relief workers on the scene reported seeing hundreds of Tutsis fleeing their villages with little more than the clothes on their backs and transistor radios pressed to their ears.As the genocide was taking place, the United States military drafted a plan to jam RTLM's broadcasts, but this action was never taken, with officials claiming that the cost of the operation, international broadcast agreements and "the American commitment to free speech" made the operation unfeasible.When French forces entered Rwanda during Opération Turquoise, which was ostensibly to provide a safe zone for those escaping the genocide but was also alleged to be in support of the Hutu-dominated interim government, RTLM broadcast from Gisenyi, calling on 'you Hutus girls to wash yourselves and put on a good dress to welcome our French allies. The Tutsis girls are all dead, so you have your chance.'When the Tutsi-led RPF army won control of the country in July, RTLM took mobile equipment and fled to Zaire with Hutu refugees.