Watch CBS News

From the archives: Reporting on the Rwandan genocide

A 1994 report by Ed Bradley on the slaughter of some half million Rwandan Tutsis by Hutu tribesmen. Includes interviews with some of the 1200 accused killers who were being held in the central prison in Kigali, the capital of Rwanda.
The Killers 13:37

By Evie Salomon

Today marks the international community's 20th commemoration of the Rwandan genocide -- an atrocity that resulted in the mass murders of at least 800,000 Rwandans.

Men, women, children, even babies, were hacked to death in an age-old feud between two African tribes, the Hutus and the Tutsis.

Several months later in 1994, Ed Bradley traveled to Rwanda and spoke to Hutu prisoners accused of slaughtering their Tutsi countrymen, as well as the Tutsi-led army that was working to rebuild the country.

Traveling with Bradley was Paul Bellinger, a producer-editor who was also shooting footage for the broadcast.

Bellinger had spent time reporting in Rwanda 10 years prior, but he says when he arrived with the 60 Minutes team, the country was completely unrecognizable.

"I knew the people and they were incredibly friendly, but when I arrived there, everything had changed," Bellinger tells 60 Minutes Overtime. "There was fear everywhere, the place was in complete chaos. The place had completely transformed into a nightmare."

That chaos was apparent at the central prison in Kigali, where Hutu men accused of hacking to death thousands of their neighbors were held.

"What was interesting was that they weren't all old people or young men, they were kids," Bellinger says. "We were shocked. I assumed they were organized gangs of strong men, but no, the kids had to kill as well."


The 1994 60 Minutes story on the Rwandan genocide, titled "The Killers," was reported by Ed Bradley and produced by George Crile

View CBS News In
CBS News App Open
Chrome Safari Continue
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.