Rebero, a hill in Kicukiro, became one of the early killing sites during the Genocide against the Tutsi. It had long been home to many Tutsi professionals—teachers, civil servants, community leaders—who became some of the first targeted. Militias set up roadblocks along the roads leading up the hill and carried out house-to-house killings.

After Belgian UN troops abandoned refugees at ETO Kicukiro on April 11, many fleeing toward safety were caught and murdered around Rebero as militias swept the area. 

Accounts describe bodies left along the slopes of Rebero and in nearby ravines as militias continued killing throughout April. The hill’s position made it easy for perpetrators to trap civilians trying to escape toward the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) lines. 

On their way to Rebero, on April 11, the RPA units were confronted by a horrific scene of more than 5000 civilians who had just been massacred by ex-FAR and Interahamwe militia in and around the Nyanza-Kicukiro area.

They had been slaughtered just hours after UN Belgian troops that initially protected them at then ETO Don Bosco Kicukiro, a technical school, withdrew without prior warning. Some victims were close relatives of some RPA soldiers. “Most of the (RPA) soldiers knew the people here and had families here, it was very, very tragic for them because they thought they came to save their people, their own, and now seeing them dead…it was very, very hurtful,” recounted Philbert Rwigamba, a retired former RPA officer, for The 600 documentary. “What was taking place certainly was taking a toll on our fighting troops,” observed Karamba. 

Today, Rebero hosts a memorial honoring victims—especially political leaders killed for opposing extremist Hutu Power ideology.