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Rwandan Genocide

By Frederique & JJ

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Background

  • A small country with an overwhelmingly agricultural economy
  • Part of German East Africa from 1894 to 1918
  • Ethnic Groups include the Hutu (85%), Tutsi (14%), and the Twa (1%)
  • Belgium considered Tutsi to be superior when they colonized Rwanda
  • Tutsi ruled until around 1962 where power shifted to Hutu

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Pressures Increase

  • Hutu blamed Tutsi for social and economic pressures
  • Tutsi were assumed to be supporters of the rebel group RPF (Rwandan Patriotic Front)
  • Racial tensions resulted from cruel treatment towards the Hutu during Tutsi rule

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Genocide

  • On April 6, 1994, President Habyarimana’s plane was shot down
  • Immediately afterwards, the Hutu began a genocide against the Tutsi under the guise of war
  • Political opponents to the genocide or those with the power to stop it were immediately murdered

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Genocide (continued)

  • Tutsi people or those suspected to be Tutsi were brutally murdered and mutilated
  • Entire families were murdered at a time
  • Women were systematically raped and then killed
  • Genocide was started by Hutu elite to consolidate power

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Numbers

  • 200,000 people participated in the genocide
  • 800,000 Tutsi had died in the weeks following the president’s plane being shot down
  • ¾ of the Tutsi population were murdered
  • Radios called on people to murder their neighbors

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Rwandan Patriotic Front

  • Tutsi-dominated rebel force
  • Opposed Hutu rule
  • Won many battles with little opposition during the genocide
  • Saved tens of thousands of people from the genocide
  • Killed thousands of civilians and government troops alike
  • Defeated Hutu 100 days after April 6 and put president Paul Kagame into power

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Global Reactions

  • The UN, France, Belgium, and the US were aware of the massive slaughter
  • Refused to take action to stop it
  • Refused to acknowledge the mass killings and refused to call it a “genocide”
  • Eventual weak protests did nothing to slow the murders

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Memorial

  • Kigali Genocide Memorial works in remembrance of the Tutsi genocide and provides information on it
  • 3 exhibitions: The 1994 Genocide Against the Tutsi, The Wasted Lives, and the Children’s Room

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Citations

http://www.unitedhumanrights.org/genocide/genocide_in_rwanda.htm

https://www.hrw.org/reports/1999/rwanda/Geno15-8-03.htm

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