This month marks the 30th anniversary of the genocide, one of the worst atrocities of the 20th century

What precipitated the genocide?
On 6 April 1994, a plane carrying Rwanda's president, Juvénal Habyarimana, as well as his counterpart Cyprien Ntaryamira of Burundi, was shot down as it prepared to land in Kigali, the Rwandan capital. Within 30 minutes of the crash, roadblocks had been set up around the city to check identity cards (which listed people's ethnicity), and to kill those of Tutsi ethnicity on the spot. To this day, it's not clear who shot down the plane. While many accused Tutsi rebels of killing the two leaders, who were both of Hutu ethnicity, some evidence suggests that Hutu extremists planned the attack as a catalyst for a genocide that had been planned long before. President Habyarimana had recently signed a compromise peace deal with Tutsi rebels, following fighting between 1990 and 1993, which had infuriated Hutu extremists.

Why were there tensions between the two groups?
Rwanda had historically been divided into three distinct ethnic, or caste, groups: Hutus, making up the vast majority; Tutsis, around 15% of the population; and the Twa, less than 1%. The Tutsis held the positions of power and tended to occupy higher social strata; they were cattle herders, soldiers and administrators, whereas Hutus were historically farmers. These castes were formalised under Belgian colonial rule. In 1959, shortly before independence, the Hutus overthrew the Tutsi monarchy, and massacred Tutsis, tens of thousands of whom fled to neighbouring countries – including Uganda. There, a group of Tutsis formed the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), a rebel group that fought a civil war against the Rwandan army from 1990 on. This increased anti-Tutsi feeling in Rwanda, particularly in the ruling MRND party, which was rooted in "Hutu Power" ideology.

How did the genocide unfold?
Horrifyingly fast. Over the course of about 100 days from 6 April, around 800,000 people were killed, mostly Tutsis, as well as moderate Hutus and Twa. One in ten Rwandans – and 70% of the Tutsi population – died. The MRND's paramilitary youth wing, the Interahamwe (meaning those who work or fight together), was turned into a militia to carry out a carefully planned slaughter. Government-controlled radio stations spewed out propaganda, calling on Rwandans to kill the "cockroaches", and the Hutus who gave them sanctuary. The names of prominent people to be killed were read out on the radio. Leaders in the south, which had a large Tutsi population, initially resisted, but were either killed or forced to comply.
Hutu husbands murdered their own Tutsi wives; teachers killed pupils; priests and nuns killed those who came to churches to take shelter. The killers were incentivised to murder with the promise of food, livestock, money and rape, and were often told they could keep the land or property of those they killed. Most victims were hacked to death with machetes.

How did other countries respond?
The UN had a peacekeeping force in Rwanda, but on 7 April 10 Belgian soldiers sent to guard the prime minister, Agathe Uwilingiyimana, were murdered (as was she). The leader of the UN force, Roméo Dallaire, asked for extra troops in order to stop the killings. The UN Security Council refused. Instead, UN troop numbers were reduced from 2,548 to 270. In 1999, a UN report found that the UN and its member states had failed Rwanda deplorably in 1994, ignoring evidence a genocide was planned, and refusing to act once it was under way. France, as a close ally of the government, has been accused of actively supporting, and providing arms for, the génocidaires; and of helping them to escape Rwanda.

How did the genocide end?
The RPF's rebel army, which was well organised and backed by Uganda, responded to the genocide by launching an offensive against the Rwandan armed forces. By 4 July, the RPF, led by Paul Kagame, had taken Kigali. On 19 July 1994, a government of national unity was established in Rwanda, with Pasteur Bizimungu, a Hutu, appointed president, and Kagame, a Tutsi, vice-president (Kagame soon emerged as the de facto leader). Over two million Hutus fled to neighbouring countries – mostly the Democratic Republic of the Congo (then Zaire), as well as Tanzania and Burundi – for fear of retaliatory attacks. Many such attacks did take place. (At Kibeho, a Hutu displaced-persons camp in Rwanda, the RPF killed 4,000 people in one day in April 1995.) Conflicts between Rwandan-backed forces and Hutu refugees in eastern Zaire precipitated a major conflict.

Were the perpetrators brought to justice?
In 1994, the UN Security Council established the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. Sitting in the Tanzanian city of Arusha, the tribunal indicted 93 of those in power at the time. It convicted 62, including Théoneste Bagosora, the officer regarded as the architect of the genocide. Rwanda's national courts tried lower-level figures; 22 were shot by firing squad. But the vast majority of alleged killers were tried in gacaca (grass) courts, a form of customary local justice designed to encourage reconciliation (although the lack of formal procedures meant that critics see them as show trials). Between 2005 and 2012, 12,000 gacaca courts tried 1.9 million genocide cases.

What is the situation now?
Kagame has continued to rule, with an increasingly iron grip. He won the last election in 2017 with 98.8% of the vote, and opponents are often imprisoned, and some meet unexplained deaths. The RPF is a one-party state, but it is one that has made Rwanda one of the most stable and safe countries in Africa – and has brought economic growth of around 8% per year. Ethnic self-identification is officially banned, and the genocide is not often spoken about, outside of official remembrance ceremonies.

'Africa's World War'
In summer 1994, more than a million Hutus fled Rwanda to neighbouring Zaire. Among them were many armed perpetrators of the genocide; from their refugee camps, they launched attacks on Rwanda, and on ethnic Tutsis living in eastern Zaire. The Rwandan government could not tolerate this. Zaire, meanwhile, was crumbling, after decades of corrupt dictatorship under Mobutu Sese Seko, and domestic rebel groups sought to overthrow him – notably the AFDL, led by Laurent-Désiré Kabila. Rwanda sent its forces to fight alongside the rebels in October 1996, sparking the First Congo War. Uganda and Angola also joined on the AFDL side, and in May 1997 Kabila seized power, renaming Zaire the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

In 1998, however, Kabila turned against his Rwandan allies. When Tutsis in eastern DRC rose up in response, Kabila armed Hutu refugees to fight them. Rwandan forces then occupied parts of eastern Congo. Nine nations fought in the Second Congo War, known as Africa’s World War: notably, Zimbabwe and Namibia backed Congo’s government, while Uganda and Burundi backed Rwanda. The war officially lasted until July 2003, and left an estimated 5.4 million dead. Armed groups continue to fight in eastern DRC today.

"They say history is written by the victors, but that hasn't stopped Liz Truss having a go," said Noah Keete on Politico. The former PM – best known internationally for her failure to outlast a lettuce – has now published a book about her political career, and the 49 days she spent at Downing Street. Part memoir, part manifesto, it is called "Ten Years to Save the West", and in the US is grandly subtitled "Leading the Revolution against Globalism, Socialism, and the Liberal Establishment".

Truss may not be made rich by the book: reportedly, her small US advance of about $6,000 was far larger than the one she got from her British publisher. But she will be hoping to drum up sales on her forthcoming visit to Washington, said Martin Pengelly in The Guardian. There, she will address the Heritage Foundation, a Trumpist think tank, as part of what looks like a plan to become a leading player on the "global populist Right". Earlier this year, she took aim at a Leftist "deep state" at a right-wing conference in Maryland. In her book, she mocks and attacks Joe Biden, and endorses Trump's candidacy.

Her book has much for British readers to enjoy too, said Tim Adams in The Observer. We learn, for instance, that Truss spent her first weeks as PM itching from flea bites (she hints that the Johnsons' dog may have been to blame for the infestation); that having promised "delivery, delivery, delivery", she failed to arrange a successful Ocado delivery to Downing Street; and that she was evicted from her flat there before her furniture had even arrived.

"Overly emotional, self-regarding, tin-eared and delusional", the book is reminiscent of Prince Harry's "Spare", said Angus Reilly on Reaction. We learn that at their meeting at Balmoral, the Queen had this advice for her new PM. "Pace yourself." Truss wonders: "Maybe I should have listened." But such self-awareness is rare. Soon after, she is learning of the Queen's death and asking herself, "Why me? Why now?" She bemoans the fact that, as PM, she had to make her own hair appointments; and fixates on the idea that her radical programme for growth was sabotaged by establishment forces, including leftist civil servants and CINOs (Conservatives in Name Only) at Westminster.

Given the years she spent in government, Truss may have valid insights into how Whitehall works, said Katy Balls in The i Paper. Alas, all her dark talk about the "deep state" has undermined credibility on that topic. By contrast, her view that the Tory Party has become too wide, and must shift to the right, is shared by many Conservatives. Her book is unlikely to win her new fans, but it gives a "flavour of the ideological fight" to come. 

Lolly Adefope had her first solo show at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2015, and has since proved herself to be a gifted character actor with comedy chops, says Eva Wiseman in The Observer. She was beloved as a relentlessly positive Georgian ghost in the BBC drama "Ghosts"; dripped contempt in "Saltburn" as Lady Daphne, a woman disgusted with her husband and the aristocratic world in which she had landed; and was gloriously venomous as a reporter in "This Time" with Alan Partridge. The industry has changed, she says, since she started working. There was a moment when producers "realised they had to be 'more diverse', so they started casting diverse actors. But they didn't see it through to the end and think about actually writing more diverse characters. They don't do all the steps!"

What are the steps? "Step one is casting more diverse people. Step two is writing actual parts for them. And then… there are a lot of parts out there that are 'black person rolling their eyes at white person'. Which can be really fun, but it's a passive character, whose role is just to observe. The white person is getting to do all of the fun stuff and lead the action." So there's a third step, too. "Writing a character who's a black person and is also problematic and unlikeable. In the UK, we haven't got to that point yet, of casting people to be a fully realised character rather than to tick a box."