Rwanda Genocide Research Paper

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

On April 4, 1994, Hutu President, Juvenal Habyaimana and another Hutu leader, Cyprien Ntaryamira were on an airplane flying back to Rwanda. The plane was shot down and everyone on board was killed. The Hutu people blamed the terrorist attack on the RPF political group. They began to create hit lists for the Hutu militia to kill all of the Tutsi officials. Roadblocks were set up by the Hutu and if Tutsi people tried to pass, their IDs were checked. If they had any form of Tutsi identification, they were killed. The slaughter was just getting started. Neighbors were killing neighbors. Friends were killing friends. Family was killing family. Even religious leaders were killing the Tutsi people. There was thought to be no stop to the slaughter. (BBC)

War never changes, it will always be around for as long as we are here, with it, it brings genocide. Every day we are in a constant battle with each other, whether it be at home or across the oceans. We have invented weapons solely to cause mass destruction across entire continents. This has led to limitations being placed on warfare, but sometimes it's not enough. "We have to protect our Earth, so our children and grandchildren will never suffer like that"

The genocide started with the assassination of the Rwandan President Juvenal Habyarimana and Burundian President Cyprien Ntaryamira, when the their plane was shot down on April 6, 1994. The current President of Rwanda, Paul Kagame, was suspected to have influenced this assassination because he was the leader of a rebel Tutsi group and Habyarimana was a Hutu. Due to his death the Hutu rebel groups, such as the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), arose because they had felt threatened by their past violent history. The Hutu and the Tutsi lived within the precolonial Kingdom of Burundi in 1972 which was ruled by the Tutsi. The government became increasingly dangerous for the Hutu people, “In 1929, the Belgians decided to merge

The Hutu started to go door to door killing the Tutsi with machetes, cubs or any hand weapons they could get their hands on to because bullets were to expense for the Hutu to affored, about.com says (“Some of the victims were given the option of paying for a bullet so that they'd have a quicker death”). The reason why the Hutu would know who was a Tutsi was because they would look at their identity card that would have what they were, a Hutu, a Tutsi or a Twa. All the Tutsi men & children were killed as soon as they were found, but some of the women would be kept & tortured before being killed & in many causes they would be raped first then killed adding humiliation to the mix of all things. The killing lasted about 100 days or 4 months averaging about 800,000 Tutsi men & women died. The slaughter stop because the RPF came into play, the RPF or known as the Rwandan Patriotic Front is a trained military made up of Tutsi people that was made some years before. The RPF forced matter into their own hands & went into Rwanda to take over, they came out wining but at the same time the flet like if they “had lost because they have had wished to get here sooner than later” says a Tutsi

There is a genocide that is happening and there is nothing that we did about it. There are nations like the United States that are seen as leaders though they don’t seem to do anything to intervene in this situation. Every minute that passed in the Rwanda genocide there was someone who was killed and during the span of 100 days there were more than 800,000 (Mostly Tutsis) deaths. The United Nation sent peace keepers to Rwanda but that didn’t resolve anything but just monitor cease-fire. No force was allowed to be used and Rwanda had to resolve their own problem.

The Rwandan genocide was very violent and very cruel. Many people were killed and were raped. This war was not more than where you were born and what family you belong to. In 1918 Belgium took over Rwanda, but in 1933 the Belgians forced the Rwandans into two different categories. The Hutus and the Tutsis. Everything started just because it was easier to know where all the blacks were if they were in separate groups. The Tutsis were the minority; they were the upper class and were aristocratic. The Hutus on the other hand were peasants; they were the poorest of the poor. The Europeans brought the culture of a political ethnic dissidence to Rwanda. They took the original structure and made it very extreme, ethnic cards were given to be worn at all times. The Tutsis were privileged to everything, nice food, a good area to live in, good clothing. The Hutus on the other hand were made into a much oppressed group; they lived in slums and barely had enough food to live off of. Even though the Hutus were the majority they were treated like second class, animals.

This made the Hutus alter their strategy completely and they decided to exterminate the Tutsis completely to get ride of opposition, so that they will remain in power.

On April 6, 1994 a missile shot down a plane with the president of Rwanda inside; the person who fired the missile is still unknown. This signaled a scheme to annihilate the entire Tutsi population by Hutu extremists (Rwanda. United). Once the Hutus started their retaliation, dehumanization began and violence spread quickly.

Many of those who survived were lets with large scars, or STD’s that could be potentially life threatening. The Hutus didn't even let the victim’s bodies be buried properly, they let them sit out in the open to be eaten by animals or to rot just to degrade them as a whole. The world, yes as in every single country on this planet, just stood by and watched all of this take place. No one bothered to send their military over until the last week or so, and after if was over no one bothered to label it as a genocide until several years

To accurately come to terms with the events of the genocide, one must be familiar with the history between the Hutus and the Tutsis. The Hutus occupied the region for hundreds of years before the appearance of the Tutsi people. Nonetheless, the Tutsis quickly subjugated the Hutu people through the formation of a feudal state. The Hutus were lowered to peasantry, whereas the Tutsis fashioned warrior kingdoms in Rwanda and Burundi headed by “mwamis” (kings).

It all started because Congo is filled with resources that envied other countries or even the other African states. The Rwanda genocide was the starting of the war in 1994. In this genocide, Hutu-power groups led mass killings of Tutsis and pro-peace Hutus by murdering 800,000 people in 100 days.

Eventually, the Hutus were angered by the control the Tutsis were given. The Hutus began killing all Tutsis, this lasted for over 2 months. Between 800,000 and 1,000,000 people were killed. According to Exploring Globalization over 99% of children witnessed violence. European involvement and imperialism caused the genocide due the favouring of the more “European,” like Tutsis.

“A genocide begins with the killing of a man--not for what he has done, but because of who he is.” This quote by Kofi Annan, brings the powerful gift of words to the Rwandan genocide and civil war. The conflict was located in Rwanda, Africa during the years of 1959 - 1994. Rwanda is two degrees south of the equator. What was the conflict about? The conflict in Rwanda was between the two ethnic groups called the Tutsis and the Hutus, over who gets to rule the land of Rwanda. Why did it happen? Both ethnic groups were very mad at each other. It was mainly the Hutus who were mad at the Tutsis because Germany colonized Rwanda and put the Tutsis in charge, leaving the Hutus powerless. The Rwandan Civil War was a feud that divided the country of Rwanda and resulted in thousands of deaths, which impacted politics, lifestyle, and environmental destruction.

There are several causes to this genocide, but it happened very fast. It was April 6th, 1994 when the president, Habyarimana’s plane was shot down with a ground to air missile when it was just about to land at Kigali airport. It was believed that Hutu extremists shot down the plane, but it was never proven. When it started it was within 24 hours when road blocks started going up and checkpoints were people were getting killed. When people went to these road blocks and if they were Tutsis their ID was seized and they were poled out of their car and killed with machetes, but some taller and thinner Hutus were thought to be Tutsis and were also killed. These road blocks