May 22, 1994 marked the 46th day of the 100-day Genocide against the Tutsi, as killings against Tutsi continued across different parts of Rwanda under the genocidal regime.
On this day, the Rwanda Patriotic Army (RPA) captured Kigali International Airport and the Kanombe military camp in what became a major military breakthrough in its campaign to stop the Genocide against the Tutsi.
The capture of the airport and the strategic military installation dealt a significant blow to forces loyal to the Habyarimana regime, which continued retreating toward southern Rwanda as the RPA intensified military operations around Kigali and other parts of the country.
At the same time, thousands of Rwandans who had fled to neighbouring Tanzania and Burundi continued returning home as areas liberated by the RPA expanded.
In Bugesera, Nyamata Hospital started receiving and treating survivors of the genocide. Reports from the time indicated that around 200 survivors had been admitted to the hospital, while more than 300 others sought medical assistance there every day as the humanitarian crisis deepened.
On the diplomatic front, then interim President Théodore Sindikubwabo wrote to French President François Mitterrand thanking France for its support to Rwanda. In the letter, Sindikubwabo reportedly informed Mitterrand that government troops had withdrawn from the Kanombe military camp due to lack of military equipment and appealed for urgent assistance. He also reportedly held a telephone conversation with the French president.
Meanwhile, international concern over the mass killings continued to grow.
On the same day, Amnesty International released a report stating that the massacres targeting Tutsi in Rwanda had been planned and executed by the government in collaboration with its military forces.
The report added to mounting international evidence exposing the systematic nature of the Genocide against the Tutsi, which claimed more than one million lives within 100 days.
