Essay On Rwanda Genocide

Sources disagree on the definition of genocide. According to American Heritage 4th edition “Genocide is the systematic and planned extermination of an entire national, racial, political, or ethnic group.” The definition of genocide proves how genocide happened in Rwanda because Hutus and Tutsis were deliberately killed based on their ethnicity. Genocide not only happened in

After April 6th, with the death of the president and the ensuing call-to-arms, one of the first victims of the genocide was the Prime Minister, and her bodyguard of 10 Belgian UN commandos. The mission the UN soldiers were deployed on did not have sufficiently provide instructions regarding whether they could use force retaliate to fighting, so they surrendered their weapons to presidential troops when asked, only to then be captured, tortured and murdered at the enemies compound.

The Hutus are now in the position of power; the Hutu officials began to carry out massive genocides on the Tutsis. According to Document 8 it states, “The Hutu officials who took over the government organized the murders [of Tutsis] nationwide…Meanwhile, when the murders started the RPF [Tutsi-led Rwandan Patriotic Front] in Uganda invaded Rwanda again.” This quote demonstrates the back and forth genocide each ethnic group is imposing on each other. The genocide in Rwanda was sparked by the death of the Hutu Rwandan President Juvenal Habyarimana, when his place was shot down. Many Hutus blamed the Rwandan Patriotic Front and instantly started campaigns of slaughter. This also provided additional reasons why the Hutu had hatred against the Tutsis. According to Document 9a it states, “Over the course of the genocide nearly one million people were killed.” This shows how extreme the genocide was and how extensive the genocide

The Rwandan Genocide was the 1994 mass slaughter in Rwanda of the ethnic Tutsi and Hutu peoples. The Rwandan Genocide left 70% of total ethnic Tutsi dead and a total of 20% of the entire country 's population dead. Today, more than twenty years later, Rwanda is a growing society with an ever expanding skyline.

The first murder that started this genocide was the assassination of Habyarimana. This murder was a signal to the government in

The Rwandan Genocide was one of the most violent genocides in the history of the world and was intricately planned and implemented by the ethnic group called the Hutu in an attempt to eliminate another, the Tutsis. Though the genocide lasted only one hundred days, the number of deaths is estimated to be approximately 800,000. In the wake of the genocide, mass chaos plagued the country of Rwanda, deepening the divide between the groups Hutu and Tutsi. Although it can be said the genocide was caused only by the animosity between the groups in an effort for revenge, several causes led to the genocide—including social, economic, political and historical factors that had been a result of past interactions. The Rwandan Genocide was caused by

One hour after the plane crash, the Hutu militia known as the Interahamwe constructed road blocks and began slaughtering both Tutsis and moderate Hutus. Towards the start of the genocide, the Hutus murdered moderate Hutu prime minister Agathe Uwilingiyimana and her bodyguards, leaving the Hutu extremists to seige power over Rwanda. Though the massacre originated in Kigali, the slaughtering soon traveled into the rest of the country. To increase the number of murders, local officials and radio stations encouraged citizens to slaughter their neighbors. The genocide finally ceased in early July 1994, when the rebel Tutsis drove the Hutu army across the border and into

The killing was not as organized in Rwanda. Hutu militia spread throughout the country, executing Tutsi families with machetes, guns and clubs. The radio controlled by Hutus broadcasted the exact locations of Tutsis in hiding, and further encouraged the killing. In some villages, Hutu militia would force other Hutus to kill Tutsis in their neighborhood, or be killed themselves. Tutsis were also forced to kill their families.

The Hutu and Tutsi tension broke out in 1994 when the genocide began. The hate that the Hutu had towards the Tutsi grew larger and larger as time went on. The Hutu referred to the Tutsi as “cockroaches”. At the peak of the killing in 1994, the Hutu Power private radio station broadcasted that the effort to exterminate all Tutsi from world must be continued. This alone showed how much hate the Hutu had for the Tutsi. The Hutu even went as far as killing thousands of their own, if they suspected them of being against the campaign to eradicate the Tutsi.

The killings were carried out with meticulous organization and their militias had the help of the government who gave them specific locations and people to go and kill (BBC News). Not only did government officials help the Hutus in the killing but the radio played a major role in it as well. The United End to Genocide article states that “The radio was utilized to not only list the location of specific Tutsis to be targeted, but to also justify the genocide. Radio hosts discussed discrimination the Hutus suffered under the power of the Tutsis … Radio stories were used to anger the Hutus and channel that anger into action” (United End to Genocide). The Hutus were going around exterminating every Tutsi when they encountered a Tutsi rebel group who fought back which only made the fighting more toxic on both sides. According to an article by BBC News “The killings were carried out so swiftly and effectively because the then governing party, MRND, had a youth wing called the Interahamwe, which was turned into a militia to carry out the slaughter. Weapons and hit-lists were handed out to local groups, who knew exactly where to find their targets” (BBC News). The newspaper and radio affected everybody, including priests and nuns who were also convicted of killing people just to save

In order to understand how the Rwandan Hutu regime could have been best dealt with it is important to understand the surrounding circumstances. President Habiyarimana?s regime was losing popularity due in part to unsuccessful economic policy, and his small clique of Hutu extremists was desperate to cling to power. They, as well as other Hutus, were terrified of the notion that Tutsis may come back into power and implement the same kind of Hutu oppression that was experienced during its years as a Belgian colony. Many of the minority Tutsis, feeling threatened by Hutu rule, fled to neighboring Uganda and Burundi, leaving the group to represent only 9% of the Rwandan

According to the book Peacemaking in Rwanda, Hutus and Tutsis had prior hate towards one another due to “wealth, military prowess, family, and control over a precious commodity, or occupation of a prestigious social position.” (Jones, pg. 18) This meant at any time my children that Tutsis could become Hutus and Hutus could become Tutsis. Due to this my children, I come before to tell you never to hate your very own people. Clan lineage in Rwanda was were, power and status placed a role in the leading of the people as that determined who was a high authority amongst the different yet similar clans. While clan lineage played a role in who would lead the different clans, Rwanda before World War I was colonized by Germans. Sadly my kids, after World War I colonization moved on to the Belgium and this is was the day, when I saw my life flash before my eyes. The once peaceful Rwanda had changed within a day. When the Belgium came into power they “imposed on the contrary an intellectual and administrative simplification that equated “Tutsi’s” with “ruling class”.”(Jones, pg. 19) Throughout the Belgium ruling, Tutsis were the chosen ones to do all of the administrative work for the League of Nations Mandate. Due to this Belgium’s required for Tutsis to carry around cards that specifically showed and

The Rwandan genocide was a series of innocent murders occurring between the ethnic groups, the Hutu and the Tutsi and these unrealistic dispossessions of murders were facilitated and carried out by the Belgians. Prior to the Rwandan genocide, there were three commonly recognized ethnic groups known as the Hutus, Tutsis, and Twas, however the Hutus and Tutsis had some similarities and social differences. The Hutu “compromised 84-90 percent of Rwanda’s population before the genocide, Tutsis were 9-15 percent, and Twas were 1 percent” (Straus 19). Even though the Tutsis had a smaller population compared to the Hutus they had some similarities.

The Belgians also decreed that Tutsis should be the only ones in power and thus removed Hutus from positions of power and excluded them from higher education (Arraras). “By assuring the Tutsis’ monopoly of power the Belgians set the stage for future conflict in Rwanda” (Arraras). The Tutsis were enjoying their status as being superior to the Hutus but all that changed in 1959 with the Hutu revolution and so in 1960 and 1961 the Hutus won the elections. Since then, ethnic tensions had always been brewing between the Hutus and the Tutsis. However the tensions escalated when Rwandan President Juvenal Habyarimana, a Hutu, was shot down above Kigali airport on April 6, 1994. I consider this to be a form of political violence because someone or a group that opposed this President which represented only the political interests as well as the viability of the Hutus had to be killed in order for another group possibly the Tutsis to fill the vacuum of power left by the Hutu president. The Hutus blamed the assassination of their president on the Tutsis and in turn sparked an all out massacre waged on to the Tutsi people.

Hutu’s government started to spread again on the radio that the president Juvenal Habyarimana was killed by Tutsi, yet they told their people to get rid of Tutsi’s people. Hutus sat up roadblock and barricades, and then began slaughtering Tutsi and moderate Hutus with impunity. Moderate Hutus were Prime Minister Agthe Uwilingiyimana and her bodyguards were killed on April 7, 1994. Hutu started kill Tutsi more than before because of the media spread. The neighbors Tutsi was hiding and living with constant of fear with Hutu was around and wait to kill them all. The genocide started after that, and lots of people were suffered and got killed without any reasons. Even a child who related to Tutsi get killed. Hutu tried to massacre