Rwanda Genocide Research Paper

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.

On April 6, 1994, a plane carrying Habyarimana and Burundi’s president Cyprien Ntaryamira was shot down over Kigali their were no survivors. They did not know who shot the plane down but they are blaming Hutu extremists and the leaders of the RPF. An hour after the plane went down the Rwandan armed forces and the Hutu militia groups had started setting up roadblocks and barricades, and started killing Tutsis and moderate Hutus. the first victims of the genocide were the moderate Hutu Prime Minister Agathe Uwilingiyimana and her 10 Belgian bodyguards, with that happening it started more conflict and interim government of extremist Hutu Power leaders from the military high command had stepped in on april 9. The killing in Rwanda had spreaded to the rest of the country, up to 800,000 or more had been slaughtered within 3 months.

It is important to study the immediate and gradual causes of the genocide. A good understanding of the devastating Rwandan genocide can help prevent a repeat of such violent events. There were numerous situations that led to the murders, but some could have had a greater impact than others. Two of the biggest causes of the genocide were the assassination of Rwandan President Juvenal Habyarimana and the hostility between the Hutus and Tutsis. The animosity between the two groups was built up over hundreds of years, while Habyarimana’s assassination was an incident that took place within hours of the beginning of the genocide. Habyarimana’s death seemed to be a trigger for the genocide, but the conflicts between the Hutus and Tutsis could have played an even larger role in the mass murders of thousands of Rwandans. The past relationship between the two groups must be studied in order to understand how they were able to reach a genocide.

On April 6, 1994, the Rwandan president was returning from Tanzania when his plane was shot down and he was killed. The death of the president was the spark needed for a campaign of violence against the Tutsi and moderate Hutu civilians across the country. In hours, Hutu rebels surrounded the capital and took over the streets. As the weeks advanced, Tutsis and anyone suspected of having connections to a Tutsi member was killed.

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.

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.

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)

During 1959, the Hutus removed the Tutsi monarchy and thousands of Tutsis escaped to bordering countries. A large group of Tutsi exiles created a rebel group, the Rwandan Patriotic Front. The RPF(abbreviated) came into Rwanda to start a war which ended in a peace agreement in 1993. Following the civil war in Rwanda between the Tutsis and the Hutus, the Rwandan President Juvenal Habyarimana’s plane was shot down near the Kigali, which also was carrying two Hutus. The Hutus blamed the RPF and began to slaughter them all immediately. It was complete devastation, people killing their friends, neighbors, and even husbands/wives who had Tutsi ID cards. The main points or central issues of the Rwandan Genocide were shown through the actions of the perpetrators, victims, upstanders, and the bystanders. Perpetrators(Hutus) were brainwashed to believe what they were doing was just

The tensions that led up to the genocide came into being after Belgium colonized Rwanda and had divided the people into two groups: the Hutus & the Tutsis. Although the Hutus held the majority, the Tutsis had the power because the Belgians had favoured the Tutsis. As a result, this caused a lot of resentments among the Hutus. Once Rwanda had gained independence and Belgium had left, the Hutus claimed control over the nation. As depicted in the movie, the genocide began with the murder of President Juvénal Habyarimana, a Hutu. The Hutu extremists blamed the Tutsi rebels for shooting down the president’s plane and killing everyone else on board. Although this was never confirmed, the Hutus began to slaughter thousand of Tutsi civilians, as a

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

Belgium seized Rwanda along with Burundi in 1916; two years later after the defeat of Germany in WWI. In the Early 1970’s, there was a resurgence of anti-Tutsi feeling amongst the majority Hutu population. During this period there was the emergence of a figure who was the leader of the nationwide anti-Tutsi campaign, the army chief Major Juvenal Habyarimana. When Habyarimana declared himself president in July 1973, after he ousted the previous President Kayibanda in a bloodless coup, the response in Rwanda to coup was that of relief among the urbanised population. Habyarimana appealed to the Hutu majority as he was a northerner and for many years northern Hutus complained that the southern-led government was not doing enough to keep the Tutsi

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.

The assassination of President Habyarimana, in 1994, is considered one historical or political cause of the start of the Rwandan Genocide. There are two stories about why the president’s plane was shot down. The first one was that some people in the Hutu government and

The date of the Rwandan genocide was April 7th, 1994 to mid July. The perpetrators in the mass murder were the Rwandan army, the national police, government backed militias including Interhame and Impuzamungambi, and Hutu civilians. During this time some half a million to a million Rwandans in both the Tutsi and Hutu were mass murdered, wiping out 20% of the population. Augustin Bizimana played an important role in the Rwandan genocide as the minister of defense who supplied civilians and Rwandan Armed Forces (FAR) with weapons. Augustin Bizimurgu was a former general of the FAR who trained military and militia men

The Rwandan president, Habyarimana and the president of Burundi, Cyprien Ntaryamira, are killed when the president’s plane is shot down near Kigali Airport, on April 6th, 1994. That night on the 6th of April, 1994, the genocide begins. Hutu people take to the streets with guns and machetes. The Hutus set up roadblocks and stopped anyone that looked Tutsi or suspected of helping Tutsi people to hide. On April 7th, 1994 the Rwandan Armed Forces set up roadblocks and went house to house to kill any Tutsis found. Thousands of people die on the first, while the U.N. just stands by and watches the slaughter go on. On April 8th, 1994 the U.N. cuts its forces from 2,500 to 250 after ten U.N. soldiers were disarmed and tortured and shot or hacked to death by machetes, trying to protect the Prime Minister. As the slaughter continues the U.N. sends 6,800 soldiers to Rwanda to protect the civilians, on May 17th, 1994, they were meant to be the peacekeepers. The slaughter continues until July 15th, 1994, in the 100 days that the genocide lasted 800,000-1,000,000 Tutsis and Hutus