Role Of Imperialism In Rwanda

When Belgium brought in colonialism they also brought in the Catholic Church. This irritated the Tutsi and they started to get agitated against Belgium authority. The Tutsi felt that Rwanda was just fine and there didn’t need to be anything changed. The negative response towards the new colonial economy and the Catholic Church that the Belgians brought in will end up coming back at the Tutsi. The Belgians saw this negative attitude and because of this attitude from the Tutsi the Belgians switched there support toward the Hutu. Since the Tutsi did not treat the Hutu with much respect in the past years the Hutu could take advantage of this support from the Belgians and payback the Tutsi’s for how they treated them in past years.

August 3, 1993 The Arusha Accords are agreed upon, opening government positions to both Hutu and Tutsi.

Before Rwanda became an independent African run country, it was under Belgian control. In the 1930s Belgium imposed indirect rule and put Tutsis in control of government. The Belgians did not invent the two ethnic groups, Hutu and Tutsi, but colonial intervention enforced a new meaning for the two ethnicities and thus engrained a hierarchy among the Rwandans . The Tutsis could be determined by their taller slighter build, lighter skin and thinner noses; in conclusion, they were the whitest Africans . By 1994 the two groups were visibly indistinguishable because of mixed parentage. This is portrayed in the movie Hotel Rwanda when a journalist asks two women what ethnicity they are; he discovers that one is Hutu and the other Tutsi. The journalist replies that the women could be twins. In the 1950s the newly established United Nations began to pressure Belgium to vacate Rwanda. Belgium introduced reforms to increase Hutu representation in politics, so from the 1950s until 1962, when Rwanda achieved independence a Hutu movement was born. The Hutu movement was gaining momentum and national recognition; the violence conducted during this period forced thousands of Tutsis to leave the country. In 1961 Belgium sponsored the federal election and a Hutu man, Gregoire Kayibanda was elected to power. This Hutu revolution excluded Tutsis from government and military. Kayibanda’s successor,

This caused the Belgian colonists to feel frightened because they did not want to lose power in Rwanda, due to how Rwanda helped Belgian’s gain imperialism.14 By the mid 1950’s Belgian colonists decided to favour the Hutus, so the Belgian government can take back some power from Tutsis.15 This decision made by the Belgian government only made things worse in Rwanda as the Hutus (who make up 85% of Rwanda’s population) overthrew the Tutsi and Belgian government. In the 1959 Presidential election in Rwanda, the Hutus elected Greg wa Kayabanada, who then used the same method of controlling Rwanda as the Belgian colonists once did.16 Kayabanda used the identity discrimination but this time it was against the Tutsis. The Tutsis were now denied higher education, ownership of land, and positions in the

After the atrocities of the Rwandan Genocide and the lack on international intervention, Rwandan was forced to rebuild itself from scratch. Rwanda is a small country located in central Africa. Its population is divided between two ethnic groups: the hutus and the tutsis. The roots of the Rwandan genocide date back to 1924 when Belgium first took over Rwanda, formally a part of Tanzania. The Belgians viewed Tutsi superior to the hutus. Many referred to this as Hamitic hypothesis. It was motivated mainly by the fact that Tutsi were taller and thinner than hutus. This lead to a major boost in Tutsi egos and mistreatment of the Hutus for decades. This angered the Hutus leading to a major conflict between the two ethnic groups.

Unfortunately, this peaceful life style was corrupted when German and Belgian colonizers first came to the state now known as Rwanda. When looking at the early creation of the neo-states there was little to no care about the indigenous people; there values, tradition, and own forms of government were ignored, “while states were conveniently put together to further European metropolitan economic interest” . This meant that the imperial Belgium was now in total control of the territory, they had little to no interest in the indigenous population. The only interest the Belgian leaders did show in the indigenous population was in finding a way in which the population would be best subdued and controlled. This started with the distribution of identification cards, “These cards, which were to be carried from the age of 16, stated the bearer’s identity in terms of their belonging to the Hutu, Tutsi

When the Belgian left they gave Rwanda independence.As a result of them leaving there where two different ethnic groups left in Rwanda the Hutu’s and the Tutsi’s.These two tribes went to war over control of Rwanda.In

Before Rwanda was colonized it was solely ruled by Tutsi leaders. This did not change even during colonialism. In 1884 the Berlin conference assigned the region of rwanda to germany and germany just decided to rule through the monarchy of Rwanda. Which at the time was ruled by the Tutsi Kingdom. In 1889 Rwanda officially became a part of a colony of German East Africa(Rwanda). After the sudden defeat of Germany in World War I the League of Nations Mandate of 1919 appointed Belgium to administer Rwanda and Burundi. They later decided on the name of Rwanda and burundi to be Rwanda- Urundi(Rwanda). The Belgians only wanted the tutsis to lead Rwanda because they felt like they were more superior in a sense. The belgians believed that the Tutsi

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

In the course of a hundred days in 1994, over 800,000 Tutsi and moderate Hutu were killed in the Rwandan genocide. It was the fastest, most efficient killing spree of the twentieth century. My thesis is that the international community utterly failed to prevent and stop this atrocity. I will focus on numerous interconnected aspects that led to international inaction and also on the main actors, Belgium, the United Nations Secretariat, the United States and France, that knew that there was genocide underway in Rwanda - therefore, they had a responsibility to prevent and stop the genocide, but lacked political will. This led to inaction at the level of the Security Council (SC), where member states

Since the instrumentalists who created this ethnic divide did so bases on biological features it would be easy to assume that the Rwandan problem was a primodialist one. However, even with the identification cards and apparent physical differences between the two groups I still believe that this issue was created rather than imbedded. While there were differences between the two groups of people they were pushed into conflict by their colonial parents, with one group being seen as better and being put on top, and another being oppressed. These colonial powers gave the Tutsis the authority to dominate and control the Hutus.

Rwanda Throughout Rwanda’s history, power struggles have prevailed, and with this arose conflicts within the nation. Prior to European invasion, Rwanda lived in harmony for the most part, and in the 1800’s European powers heightened these divides between the ethnic people, and it affected how the modern day institutions and power structures are set up. These conflicts then led to a large-scale genocide which tore the nation and its people apart. Thesis Statement: Throughout Rwanda’s history of existence power struggles and ethnic issues have arose, many of which being caused by foreign European powers, this affected the country for years in aspects such as ethnic division, internal conflicts, power distribution, politics, and genocide.

Instead of confronting the Hutus with words or nonviolent protests, the Tutsis began a warfare. I learned that no more than half of the Tutsi and Hutu groups can read and write in their native language. Belgium and Germany must have seen this as an advantage. The Tutsis who held military power inherited it from the colonia lpower and don’t want to share fully with the Hutus. A news reporter stated, “The German and Belgian invaders shrewdly manipulated the Tutsi and Hutu with the age-old, highly effective “divide and rule” strategy.” If the Tutsis and Hutus had been educated they would have realized that. If they had a higher education they could have run for office, instead of electing a king. They were smart enough to form an army, train children with deadly weapons, and kill millions of people. The only difference between the two groups is economical, rather than ethical. Once they began the assassinations they could not stop the slaughter. At first the Hutus were victims of the atrocity, but once they regained power terror struck down on the Tutsis. All the unfair distribution of resources such as, wealth, and education powered their fight. Segregation was also a fuel that was ignited every time they were called “dark

After independence in 1962, there was a constant power struggle between the two tribes. It all started on April 6, 1994 and ended until July, a time span approximately of 100 days, during those 100 days 800,000 classified Tutsis were murdered. A genocide, as defined in the Genocide convention in 1948, is when certain acts such as killing, inflicting physical and mental harm, and imposing measures to prevent birth is done to a specific nation, race ethnic group, or religious group. This definition was created a while before the Rwandan genocide was even thought of, but this definition is what could have caused further involvement in Rwanda. Governments found that if they simply did not call it a genocide, then they didn’t need to help. As such, the legal and moral shortcomings of the international system fail the doctrine of humanitarian intervention. Often cited as one of the most efficient genocides of the twentieth century, the Rwandan genocide took place over fourteen weeks, in which estimates as to the death toll vary between eight-hundred thousand to one-million. Ten percent of the populace and approximately seventy-five percent of the Tutsi minority were systematically murdered. The mass atrocities were carried out utilizing pre-modern weaponry, including machetes and varied firearms, at an astounding rate; three hundred people this would mean that three people would die per

It wasn 't until Europeans came to colonize the zone that the expressions "Tutsi" and "Hutu" tackled a racial part. During these time, Belgium colonists believed that Tutsi’s had more European physical futures and where in this manner a more prevalent race. Furthermore, the Belgium’s distributed identity cards which stated whether you were of Hutu or a Tutsi ethnicity. Tutsi’s welcomed the Belgium’s idea and for a prolonged timeframe were given better social, economical and political opportunities, such as higher political voice, better job opportunists, and better education. Despite the fact that Hutus consisted of the vast majority of the population compared to Tutsis.