The Akazu (Kinyarwanda: [ɑ.kɑ.zu], little house) was an informal organization of elite Hutu extremists whose members contributed strongly to the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. A circle of relatives and close friends of Rwanda's then-president Juvénal Habyarimana and his influential wife Agathe Habyarimana, they were also called the Zero Network, for their goal of a Rwanda with zero Tutsi.
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In this Dossier
Akazu in the context of 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 and other minorities. Espoused by Hutu extremists, widespread support for the ideology led to the 1994 Rwandan genocide against the Tutsi, the moderate Hutu who opposed the killings, and the Twa, who were considered traitors. Hutu Power political parties and movements included the Akazu, the Parmehutu, the Coalition for the Defence of the Republic and its Impuzamugambi militia, and the governing National Republican Movement for Democracy and Development and its Interahamwe militia. Hutu supremacy is most common in Rwanda and Burundi, where Hutu comprise most of the population. Due to its sheer destructiveness, the ideology has been compared to Nazism in the Western world.
In 1990, Hassan Ngeze wrote the Hutu Ten Commandments, a document that served as the basis of the Hutu Power ideology. The Commandments called for the supremacy of Hutus in Rwanda, exclusive Hutu leadership over Rwanda's public institutions and public life, complete segregation of Hutus from Tutsis, and complete exclusion of Tutsis from public institutions and public life. Hutu Power ideology reviled Tutsis as outsiders bent on restoring a Tutsi-dominated monarchy, and idealized Hutu culture.
Akazu in the context of National Republican Movement for Democracy and Development
The National Revolutionary Movement for Development (French: Mouvement révolutionnaire national pour le développement, MRND) was the ruling political party of Rwanda from 1975 to 1994 under President Juvénal Habyarimana, running with first Vice President Édouard Karemera. From 1978 to 1991, the MRND was the only legal political party in the country. It was dominated by Hutus, particularly from President Habyarimana's home region of Northern Rwanda. The elite group of MRND party members who were known to have influence on the President and his wife are known as the akazu. In 1991, the party was renamed the National Republican Movement for Democracy and Development (French: Mouvement républicain national pour la démocratie et le développement, MRND or MRNDD).
Following the Rwandan genocide in 1994, the party was banned.