The CDR was founded in 1992 and initially led by
Martin Bucyana until his assassination on 22 February 1994. The party was allied with the ruling
National Republican Movement for Democracy and Development (MRNDD), and used the slogan "Mube maso" ("Watch out!"), which meant that Hutus should beware or the
Tutsis would rule them as they had in the past. Unlike the MRNDD, the CDR did not agree to the
Arusha Accords and Statement of Ethics. It was therefore shut out of the
Broad-Based Transitional Government.
Jean-Bosco Barayagwiza, a founding member of the CDR, was convicted by the
International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda for several
genocide-related charges other
crimes against humanity. The CDR created the
Impuzamugambi ("Those who have the same goal") militia, which took part in the killings. The CDR refused to operate within the
rule of law or cooperate with other Rwandan political parties it opposed. The CDR had a paramilitary wing, the
Impuzamugambi that repeatedly provoked violent confrontations with members of other parties it opposed, by using hand grenades and bombs in such confrontations, and served as one of the
death squads that massacred Tutsis in the Rwandan Genocide. ==Ideology==