Jerry Robert Kajuga (1960 – before March 2007) was national president of the

Interahamwe The Interahamwe ( or ) is a Hutu paramilitary organization active in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda. The Interahamwe was formed around 1990 as the youth wing of the National Republican Movement for Democracy and Development (MRND ...

, the group largely responsible for perpetrating the

Rwandan genocide The Rwandan genocide occurred between 7 April and 15 July 1994 during the Rwandan Civil War. During this period of around 100 days, members of the Tutsi minority ethnic group, as well as some moderate Hutu and Twa, were killed by armed Hutu ...

against the

Tutsi The Tutsi (), or Abatutsi (), are an ethnic group of the African Great Lakes region. They are a Bantu-speaking ethnic group and the second largest of three main ethnic groups in Rwanda and Burundi (the other two being the largest Bantu ethnic g ...

people in 1994. Born to a Tutsi father and a

Hutu The Hutu (), also known as the Abahutu, are a Bantu ethnic or social group which is native to the African Great Lakes region. They mainly live in Rwanda, Burundi and the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, where they form one of the p ...

mother, Kajuga concealed his background and presented himself as being of pure Hutu descent. It was said that being Tutsi, he nearly collaborated with

Paul Kagame Paul Kagame (; born 23 October 1957) is a Rwandan politician and former military officer who is the 4th and current president of Rwanda since 2000. He previously served as a commander of the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), a Uganda-based rebel ...

by helping the RPF Inkotanyi soldiers to infiltrate his Interahamwe for exterminating many Tutsis. This is notable as

Hutu Power Hutu Power is a racial and ethnosupremacist ideology that asserts the ethnic superiority of Hutu, often in the context of being superior to Tutsi and Twa, and that therefore they are entitled to dominate and murder these two groups and other mi ...

extremist groups considered Hutus who married Tutsis to be race traitors,John A. Berry and Carol Pott Berry (eds.) (1999). ''Genocide in Rwanda: A Collective Memory'' (Washington, D.C.: Howard University Press) pp. 113–115. and Kajuga went to great lengths to conceal his identity.

Biography

Kajuga was born in Kibungo to a mixed-tribal family: his mother was

and his father was Tutsi but had acquired false Hutu identity papers. He was a young brother of Huss Mugwaneza Kajuga, nicknamed "millionaire of Rukara," the boss of SORIMEX-Rwanda, a company that manufactured tooth pastes and palmolive soap. To avoid any kind of suspicion about their family being Tutsi, Robert Kajuga kept his brother hidden at the

Hôtel des Mille Collines The Hôtel des Mille Collines () (English: ''Hotel of the Thousand Hills'') is a large hotel in Kigali, Rwanda. It became famous after 1,268 people took refuge inside the building during the Rwandan genocide of 1994. The story of the hotel and ...

Kigali Kigali () is the capital and largest city of Rwanda. It is near the nation's geographic centre in a region of rolling hills, with a series of valleys and ridges joined by steep slopes. As a primate city, Kigali has been Rwanda's economic, cult ...

. According to Paul Rusesabagina, who managed the hotel, Kajuga was one of the many infiltrators within the Interahamwe sent by Tutsi rebel leader

. Kajuga defended his participation in the genocide by arguing that Tutsis were responsible for trying to " take power" and stated " defended ourselves. Even the eleven-year-old children came with grenades. That’s why there are bodies at the roadblocks." Kajuga fled Rwanda in July 1994, taking refuge in the nearby

Democratic Republic of the Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (french: République démocratique du Congo (RDC), colloquially "La RDC" ), informally Congo-Kinshasa, DR Congo, the DRC, the DROC, or the Congo, and formerly and also colloquially Zaire, is a country in ...

for two and a half years, before being arrested by UN Security forces and standing trial in Kigali and being sentenced to life imprisonment. Kajuga later died in prison sometime before March 2007 from an unspecified disease in

Kinshasa Kinshasa (; ; ln, Kinsásá), formerly Léopoldville ( nl, Leopoldstad), is the capital and largest city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Once a site of fishing and trading villages situated along the Congo River, Kinshasa is now one of ...

References

Year of death missing Tutsi people Rwandan people convicted of war crimes Rwandan prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment 1960 births {{Crime-bio-stub Rwandan genocide perpetrators