After All Was Lost: The Resilience of a Rwandan Family Orphaned on April 6, 1994 When the Rwandan President's Plane Was Shot Down

When the Chief of Staff of Rwanda's Army was assassinated after the invasion of the country, civil war and then genocide, his widow and their six children found ways to overcome the rupture of their family-- and their country. This is their story. Major-General Dé ogratias Nsabimana was the Rwandan Army Chief of Staff. He died when the Rwandan presidential plane was shot down on April 6, 1994. Casualties included the presidents of both Rwanda and Burundi. Rwanda became renowned because of one of the worst mass killings of the twentieth century combined with an unprecedented crisis in Central Africa. Nsabimana was a fine military strategist, respected by his peers. He played a vital role during the war that followed the Rwandan Patriotic Army's invasion on October 1, 1990. Patriotic and honest, he was a lead negotiator of the 1993 Arusha Peace Accords. He firmly believed in the process, convinced that only peace could allow Rwandans to live in harmony. The highlights and life lessons that Alice Nsabimana and her brothers and sisters have chosen to share cast new light on the terrible tragedy that struck Rwanda and neighboring countries.


About the Author
Johan Swinnen is a Belgium diplomat who was Belgian Ambassador to Rwanda from 1990 to 1994. He lives in Belgium. Alice Nsabimana is a Belgian citizen of Rwandan origin. Raised in Rwanda until the age of 17, she was forced to flee to Belgium after her father was assassinated on April 6, 1994. She has specialized in Human Resources Management and Family, International, and Intercultural Mediation. After All Was Lost first appeared in French in 2022. Alice Nsabimana lives in Brussels. Maurice Nsabimana is an applied technologist who works as a statistician focusing on international comparisons, national accounts, and statistical capacity-building with the World Bank's Development Data Group. He holds degrees from Columbia University and Vesalius College in Brussels, Belgium. He now lives in Silver Spring, Maryland but he lived in Montreal for several years in the early 2000s.