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Interrogated by the Interahamwe

Françoise Rudahunga, Rwandan Survivor

Well, they were coming just as -- okay, first of all, they knew us. I had to change -- we had to change our names, kind of, because we had the same name as my father. So they knew him, so they knew us, and they were like, "You, you're Rudahunga's daughter," and I was like, "No." But they knew us anyway, so they took us to kind of an exit -- killing place, so like, "Okay, you're going to die."

They were asking questions about my brother and sisters: who died, like, in area, beginning of the genocide. And we didn't know where they were. They were asking questions about them, and we didn't know what to say. And they say, "Okay, since your father is dead, your mother is dead, we are going to kill you, too." So we were kind of trying to tell them how we are not Tutsi and stuff like that.

Then somebody came. We didn't know that person; we didn't know who he was. Came from -- he was like -- he was a Hutu, and he told them that he knew us and that we were not Tutsi. And they believed him, because I think he was -- I don't know why they believed him, but they just believed him. Then they took us back to the hospital.

They shot him [her brother], and he didn't -- they shot him in the chest, I think. But he was -- I mean, he called us -- before he died, he called us. He was talking to our mother specifically and he was telling us, you know, just telling my mother how he's suffering. Stuff like that just before he died on the phone. 'Cause he was in Kigali, and we were like fifty miles away from him.

They shot him, and he didn't -- they shot him in the chest, so it took a little bit longer for him to die. And that's when he called. He called home to tell us what was happening to him. They shot him and he called like an hour after, before he died. He was still alive when he called, just to tell us what was happening to him and say goodbyes and stuff like that.