Genocide : The Rwandan Patriotic Front

Genocides happen when ethnic divisions become apparent. Many times, these ethnic divisions were due to colonization from people of different race. These cases are especially true in Africa when Europeans colonized their territory, with clear racial divisions between them (Gavin). These genocides go on because of nations acting on ignorance and refusing to help out the nations in turmoil, allowing the genocides to continue, without wasting their own resources. These nations purposefully ignoring the slaughter of people cause the nations to also be guilty of the genocide underway (“The Heart”). The genocide occurred in Rwanda in Central Africa during 1994. The decades of Tutsi oppression of Hutus and the assassination of President Habyarimana in 1994 led to the genocide in Rwanda.

Rwanda is a country located in the middle of the African continent. The two ethnic groups present in the country lived in peace under their monarch until the arrival of Europeans. The Belgians arrival into Rwandan is what split the two ethnic groups of the Tutsi and Hutus, making them identify themselves with ID cards. This caused tension between the two groups as the Belgians favored the ethnic Tutsi, and made them the head of the government. Decade’s later Hutu extremists would take over the government and have revenge on the Tutsi. The new government would send out broadcasts calling on Hutus to kill their friends and neighbors. The Rwandan genocide would become the worst genocide to ever happen in Africa and one of the worst in the world. Today Rwanda’s recovery is surprisingly fast with the help of multiple nations and organizations. Rwanda’s recovery is nothing short of a miracle and is an amazing story of a war between two peoples.

Escaping is a pleasure to some people and to some it was a necessity, like to Jack Werber, “Escape was not our goal since it was so unrealistic. What we wanted was to survive, to live long enough to tell the world what had happened in Buchenwald.” This quote by Jack Werber is inspiring to some people. Jack Werber did live long enough to tell his story, like a lot of Tutsis in the Rwandan genocide. The Rwandan Genocide impacted not only the Tutsis, but the world.

This sparked a massive war, which came to be known as the Rwandan genocide. Extremists created riots and war areas for weeks. In that time over 800,000 men, women and children fell victim to this horrible catastrophe. This genocide event wiped out almost 3/4 of the Tutsi population. This was as close to extinction of a culture anyone has seen before. It took years to return to a normal state of being. All of this resulted from greed, people who wanted to strike fear and hatred into people, only to keep themselves in a powerful position, most likely in government. The United Nations became aware of this massive slaughter eventually, but no-one would step up and acknowledge it as being a genocide, even though this was in exact terms of what it

During the Rwandan genocide, it didn’t matter whether or not you have known someone for five years or fifteen years, in the end, you would be killed. In this time, many people who married Tutsis were targeted as well due to the fact that they were married or engaged. Even having a relationship even if it was not exclusive you were targeted for being interested in a Tutsi, who at the time were called cockroaches. Tutsis were identified by having lighter skin, lighter eyes, and thinner noses. They were also typically taller and thinner. Yet that doesn't make someone Tutsi or Hutu, yet back then if you had any of these traits you were considered a Tutsi even if you were really a Hutu. This racial segregation that was created led to many

Historical Context: The Rwanda Genocide was a genocidal slaughter of the Tutsi’s by the Hutu’s, taking place in 1994. This event was a shock to the world, as 1,000,000 Rwandans were killed within the space of 100 days. The atrocity took place following the Civil War, an on-going conflict that had reached a conclusion in 1993, which many Hutu’s weren’t happy with. As a result, in 1994, Hutu’s within the army, police, Government backed militias and the civilian population turned on the Tutsi’s. This mass slaughter marked a significant disruption to World Order, due to the large number of deaths and the inaction of the world to reinstate peace in Rwanda. Nations who faced criticism for their lack of action include; the US, UK and Belgium, who failed to support the UN peacekeeping troops in Rwanda.

The Rwanda Genocide was an unfortunate case where thousands of deaths could have been prevented, but because of irresponsibility and selfishness of global governments’ innocent lives were lost. The Genocide began on April 6, 1994 and was, “initiated by the Hutu political elite and extremists and its military support, their prime targets were the Tutsi, as well as Hutu moderates.” (Hain 2) The Hutu made up majority of the population and government officials and enforced a government-assisted military force to fatally attack the Tutsis. The genocide lasted one hundred days until a rebel Tutsi groups army Hutu armies in a Civil War. Within ten years of the genocide, Rwanda would make exceptional changes to government that would hold genocide participants accountable, within twenty years of the genocide; the economy has grown about 8% an annum. In the next fifty years, Rwanda will continue to see economic and population growth, but will continue to push peace and unity as the genocide continues to cause ethnical tension.

“If human is capable of conducting genocide, no need for an asteroid to wipe out dinosaurs.” -Toba Beta

In the spring of 1994, more than eight thousand Rwandans were murdered, slaughtered, and bodies piled up upon the streets in less hundred days. But yet, the only reason this genocide had actually stopped, was at the cost of the Rwandan Patriotic Army, a militant group primarily composed of Rwandan refugees whom reclaimed Kigali, the capital of Rwanda. Yet, before the Rwandan genocide occurred, for many years, tensions between the Hutu and Tutsi had growth to extreme measures and lead to far more than just disputes- it lead to the Rwandan Genocide. The Rwandan Genocide was a mass slaughter of Tutsi and moderate Hutu in Rwanda by members of the Hutu majority in which the Hutu were the ones attempting to overrule the colony in

The Rwandan genocide is a grim reminder of how the world failed to protect hundreds of thousands of civilians. The conflict between the Hutu’s and Tutsi’s resulted in the massacre of 800,000 Tutsi’s in 100 days. Following the Second World War, the UN was created to constitute the obligation to protect; it is an attempt at a mutual effort to encourage international peace. How could the world allow such an atrocity to transpire without any retribution from anyone? The media undoubtedly functioned as an essential factor to the world for not understanding exactly what was developing in Rwanda. There was an ignorant notion of turning away from the atrocity because it was “far away”. The Clinton Administration was in charge during this conflict and

Genocide is defined as the deliberate killing of a large group of people, especially those of a particular ethnic group or nation. In other words mass murder.

In the country of Rwanda, one of the most infamous events was the genocide that took place in the spring of 1994. Even though Rwanda was known as a turbulent country already, the rapid pace of the killings still left people around the world in shock. In the span of just one hundred days over eight-hundred thousand people were slaughtered by their own government.

Destexhe, Alain. Rwanda and Genocide in the Twentieth Century. New York, New York: New York University Press: 1995

It took a while before the Rwandan Genocide was put to a halt and by then, the damage was beyond repairable. In the span of 100 days, the RPF started to “make gains on both the battlefield and in the negotiations led by Tanzania”. In the beginning of July, the RPF gained authority over the majority of the country and many Hutus left the country to go to Zaire, which is now the Democratic Republic of Congo. After the genocide, the RPF created a coalition government with a Hutu, Pasteur Bizimungu as president and a Tutsi, Paul Kagame with the role of vice president and defense minister. Eventually, due to conflicts Pasteur Bizimungu was jailed because he encouraged ethnic violence and then Paul Kagame became president in the aftermath.

In 1990, forces of the RPF(Rwandan Patriotic Front) which consists mostly of Tutsi refugees attacked Rwanda from Uganda. Tensions were forming against the RPF and the government, in August 1993, Habyarimana signed an agreement in Arusha, Tanzania for the government to include the RPF, this power-sharing agreement angered some Hutu extremist who would try at any means to prevent it