Rwanda 's Current Government And Foreign Policy

In 1959 a series of Hutu riots occurred killing around 20,000 Tutsis. After 38 years of being under Belgian control, Rwanda gained independence in 1962. After this, the fighting between Hutus and Tutsi continued to become more and more prevalent. In July of 1973, the president of Rwanda Gregoire Kayibanda was overthrown by juvenile, Juvénal Habyarimana who declared himself president. At the time hundreds of thousands Rwandan refugees were living in primarily neighboring countries. These countries were poor and did not have enough resources for the refugees. As president, Habyarimana would not let these refugees back into Rwanda. The refugees formed the Rwanda Patriotic

Rwanda is a country located in Central Eastern Africa, with an extensive history of colonization, after Belgium attained control in 1924. Belgium’s rule however also marked the beginning of a lengthy ethnic rivalry between the Hutu and the Tutsi people. Belgium favored the Tutsi the minority at 14 percent of the population over the Hutu, the majority at 85 percent, simply because the Tutsis were more resembling of the Europeans. “Colonial policy helped to intensify bipolar differentiation between Tutsi and Hutu, by inscribing “ethnic” identification on identity cards, by relegating the vast majority of Hutu to particularly onerous forms of forced cultivation and corvee, and by actively favoring Tutsi in access to administrative posts, education, and jobs in the modern sector,” (Newbury, 12). Belgium’s control fueled the Hutu’s resentment towards the Tutsis because the Tutsis received superior treatment for decades. Thus, when Rwanda finally acquired independence in 1962, the Hutus fought for control over the government, highlighting the first warning sign of the genocide to come. Many Tutsis were killed afterwards, while many others fled to neighboring countries to escape the violence.

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.

Rwanda is located in East Africa. Rwanda has a population of 12 million people and only 23% of this population has access to the electric grid. Rwanda boarders with Burundi in the south, Democratic Republic of Congo in the west, Tanzania in the East and Uganda in the North. It is a small, densely populated country, with an area of 3/4 of the Netherlands. Rwanda belongs to the 20 poorest countries in the world. However, economic growth was high in recent years, and the prospects for further development are good (World Bank, 2015).

April 7, 1994 marked the beginning of one hundred days of massacre that left over 800,000 thousand dead and Rwanda divided by a scare that to this day they are trying to heal. The source of this internal struggle can be traced back to the segregation and favoritism established by Belgium when they received Rwanda after the signing of the Treaty of Versailles in 1918. At the time the Rwandan population was 14% Tutsi, 1%Twa, and 85% Hutus; the Belgian’s showed preferential treatment to the Tutsi, who were seen as socially elite, by giving them access to higher educations and better employment. This treatment causes the uprising of the Hutus in 1959 overthrowing the Tutsi government forcing many to flee the country, sparking even greater resentment between the two ethic groups. Without the interference and preferential treatment by the Belgian’s this atrocity could have likely been avoided.

In this essay I will be comparing and contrasting the data provided on the United States and Rwanda.

George Santayana once said “Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.” The Rwanda Genocide is a contemporary representation of the events that occurred during the Armenian Genocide. It is an unforgiving circumstance that even after massacres from the latter and the Holocaust that Genocides still emerge in a world who far too often shuts their door to the idea of intervention. Countries can have an abundance of supplies, unmatchable man-power, and exceptional military equipment, however, with interests in absentia, countries will be reluctant to deploy forces despite exclamations of help. The culmination of the Rwanda Genocide is absolutely an unforgiving portion of history that will be remembered by the victims, the witnesses, and the decision-makers.

Rwanda, a small country in the middle of Africa bordered by Uganda, Tanzania, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of the Congo was controlled by the German after they arrive in 1890. But after the World War 1, Belgium gained control of Rwanda (Hymowitz & Parker, n.d.). Few years after the Belgium colonizes controlled the country, In order to strengthen the Belgian and German control, the Belgian colonists divided Rwanda’s unified population into distinct groups. Not to mention that the Hutu were about 85% of the population, the Tutsis were 14%, and the rest were Twa. The Hutus and Tutsis were not aware about the results of this classification in the future. Actually, not too far from that date the Belgian colonization put one group above the

Rwanda has had a tragic past filled with a devastating civil war and a heartbreaking mass murder that took the whole country by storm. The Rwandan genocide of 1944 was

Abimbola, Olaifa and Danjibo Dominic. The 1994 Rwandan Conflict: Genocide or War? International Journal on World Peace. Vol XXX No. 3(2013). 31-54. Print.

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

Grijalba who, under the orders of Diego Veláquez, who is the Spanish governor of Cuba, Set out on ill-

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.

By early July, the RPF had control of the majority of the country. Fearing reprisal killings, hundreds of thousands of Hutus fled the country. To think that people would have that much disrespect for human life is unbelievable. Instead of taking the initiative to put an end to the brutality, the international community ignored the crisis. While the United States created a ton of excuses regarding the lack of intervention. The genocide was distorted and incompletely portrayed by the international community for months due to a lack of interest in the country of Rwanda. Even today, large governments choose not to intervene in circumstances of human rights violations when those countries are not part of the Western world. If the international community had given more help to the people in Rwanda instead of focusing on their own national interests, the genocide’s effects possibly could have been minimized or even

Prior to colonial era, Rwanda had larger population of Hutus compared to Tutsis and Twa. Rwanda as a country was divided into three ethnic groups i.e. Hutu (approximately about 85%), Tutsi (14%) and Twa (1%) (United Nations). Although, Tutsis were the minorities, they belonged to the higher strata compared to the other ethnic groups; Tutsis were privileged and had power and control over the Hutus and Twas. “Hutus were formerly bound to their Tutsi patrons via client ship” (Sinema, 2012). When Rwanda was colonized by Germany followed by Belgium, they favored Tutsis as they represented the upper class prior to the colonization. These created a social system like feudal system where there was a power difference between the Hutus and the Tutsis. Tutsis were considered as lord and the Hutus on the other hand, were considered as peasants. As a consequence, this created an ethic tension between the Hutus and the Tutsis and created a system more like apartheid. Nonetheless, they managed to co exist in Rwanda until they were decolonized. Although there is no social distinction between the Hutus and the Tutsis, the conflict between these tribes increased tremendously after the independence from Belgian that led to mass murder and ethnic cleansing of the Tutsi by the Hutu.