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 (M ...

, the group largely responsible for perpetrating the

Rwandan genocide The Rwandan genocide, also known as the genocide against the Tutsi, occurred from 7 April to 19 July 1994 during the Rwandan Civil War. Over a span of around 100 days, members of the Tutsi ethnic group, as well as some moderate Hutu and Gre ...

against the

Tutsi The Tutsi ( ), also called Watusi, Watutsi or Abatutsi (), are an ethnic group of the African Great Lakes region. They are a Bantu languages, Bantu-speaking ethnic group and the second largest of three main ethnic groups in Rwanda and Burundi ( ...

people in 1994. Born to a Tutsi father and a

Hutu The Hutu (), also known as the Abahutu, are a Bantu ethnic group native to the African Great Lakes region. They mainly live in Rwanda, Burundi, and Uganda where they form one of the principal ethnic groups alongside the Tutsi and the Great L ...

mother, Kajuga concealed his background and presented himself as being of pure Hutu descent. This is notable as

Hutu Power Hutu Power, or Hutu Supremacy, is an ethnic supremacist ideology that asserts the ethnic superiority of Hutu, often in the context of being superior to Tutsi and Twa, and therefore, they are entitled to dominate and murder these two groups an ...

extremist groups considered Hutus who

married Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children (if any), and b ...

Tutsis to be

race traitor Race traitor is a phrase that describes someone who is perceived to have betrayed their own Race (human categorization), race, primarily by other members of their race or ethnic group. People can be accused of betraying their race for many socio ...

s,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 in

Kigali Kigali () is the Capital (political), 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 is a relativ ...

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

Paul Kagame Paul Kagame ( ; born 23 October 1957) is a Rwandan politician and former military officer who has been the President of Rwanda since 2000. He was previously a commander of the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), a rebel armed force which invaded ...

. 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." One source alleges that Kajuga was apprehended in the nearby

Democratic Republic of the Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), also known as the DR Congo, Congo-Kinshasa, or simply the Congo (the last ambiguously also referring to the neighbouring Republic of the Congo), is a country in Central Africa. By land area, it is t ...

after the genocide and transferred to Kigali where he was sentenced to life imprisonment and later died in prison. However, his cousin Prosper Ingabire alleged in a ICTR testimony that Kajuga died sometime after the Rwandan Genocide in Kinshasa following a long illness that kept him bedridden throughout the genocide.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kajuga, Robert Year of death missing Tutsi people Rwandan people convicted of war crimes Rwandan prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment 1960 births Rwandan genocide perpetrators Rwandan people who died in prison custody Prisoners who died in Rwandan detention