The History Of Rwanda Genocide

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.

With over eight hundred thousand to one million deaths, the Rwandan genocide is undoubtedly one of the most sad and shocking examples of the lack of intervention by not only the US and the UN, but by other countries as well. The ongoing tensions between the Hutu, the largest population in Rwanda, and the Tutsi, the smaller and more elite population is what eventually lead to the Rwandan genocide. The killings began quickly after President Habyarimana 's plane was shot down. After hundreds of thousands of deaths, the US did not intervene in Rwanda because being a landlocked country with no natural resources to benefit the US, there was no economical benefit, and the risk of sending in troops simply outweighed the rewards. The aftermath of the genocide has not only impacted those who lived through it, but it has also impacted future generations as well. At the end of the genocide, the ICTR was formed by the UN to find justice. The Rwandan genocide has shocking similarities between the Holocaust and the Armenian Genocide as well. Overall, the Rwandan genocide was a terrible event that escalated far beyond what it should have if there had been intervention from other countries and the UN.

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.

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 Tutsi are a people who live in Rwanda, Burundi, and the northeastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo. The location, size, and history, most importantly, is why the Tutsi tribe the second largest population division among the three largest groups in Rwanda and Burundi, the other two being the Hutu and the Twa. Although the Tutsi tribe is one of the most known tribes in Africa, it comes from a long way of fighting for its' rights and independence.

“When you start to see another human being as less than you, it 's a danger.”-Immaculee Ilibagiza. In 1994, a mass genocide broke out in Rwanda, a small country in Africa. The genocide occurred between the two ethnic groups where the Hutus were targeting the tutsis. The Rwandan genocide, ranking in the top five largest genocides in the world, was caused because of the resentment the hutus had towards the tutsis and was even more instigated by media and outsiders causing differences between the two parties. This quote is trying to provide an insight on what happened in rwanda and why. The local and international media played a significant role in the rwandan genocide of 1994; however racial hatred intensified from European colonists and the

The Rwandan Genocide was one of the most violent genocides in the history of the world and was intricately planned and implemented by the ethnic group called the Hutu in an attempt to eliminate another, the Tutsis. Though the genocide lasted only one hundred days, the number of deaths is estimated to be approximately 800,000. In the wake of the genocide, mass chaos plagued the country of Rwanda, deepening the divide between the groups Hutu and Tutsi. Although it can be said the genocide was caused only by the animosity between the groups in an effort for revenge, several causes led to the genocide—including social, economic, political and historical factors that had been a result of past interactions. The Rwandan Genocide was caused by

According to Michael P. Scharf, over 800,000 Tutsis were slaughtered in just 4 months. To put that in perspective, that is two times more people than everyone in Atlanta, and every single one of their lives were taken in a third of the year. Such a terrible atrocity and no one accepted the blame. A small group of African leaders came together and blamed other countries such as the United States and the members of the United Nation’s for not intervening on the genocide that was occurring. Others, however, stated that it was not their place to get in the middle of a civil war. Looking deeper into this matter, some even say that the Rwandan government shares a portion of the blame for putting the two groups, the Hutus and the Tutsis, against each other. There has been a long, thick tension between the two for many years going back to when Belgium owned a colonial state known as Rwanda-Burundi.

Twenty years ago in the small east African country of Rwanda, eight hundred thousand people, mostly those of the Tutsi tribe, were slaughtered by their own government. The Hutu and the Tutsi tribes followed the same traditions and inhabited the same territory for over a thousand years. The rise of conflict between the Tutsi and the Hutu dates back to 1918, when the Germans lost their colonies following World War I, and the Belgians took control of Rwanda. In 1933, the Belgians establish the superiority of the "Tutsi" over the "Hutu" which lead to a great divide between these two groups (Admin of PBS.org). When the Belgians handed over power to the Hutu majority, a deep resentment of

Often described as the most horrible and systematic human massacre since the Holocaust, the Rwandan Genocide has been a subject of research and debate for decades. Typically, ethnic and cultural differences between segments of Rwanda’s diverse population, namely the Hutu and the Tutsi, is the reason given to explain the genocide. Although this is a valid argument, the roots of the conflict are more complex stretching back to the era of colonialism. The impact of colonialism on Rwandan politics and society set the foundations for revolution in 1959 and, ultimately, genocide in 1994.

800,000, and most of those people were from of the Tutsi tribe. It began by the

Sometime in April 1994, during the Rwandan Genocide, Father Athanase Seromba helped lure 2,000 Tutsi men, women, and children into his church where they thought they would be safe. One day, Seromba began clearing out the Communion chalices. A refugee in the church begged him to leave the Eucharist so that they could hold a final mass. However, Seromba refused, telling the congregation that the building was no longer a church. Another refugee asked the priest if he would pray for them. He answered, “Is the God of the Tutsis still alive?” Later, Seromba would have the church bulldozed and would send the militia in to kill the survivors (Kimani, 2010). In a continent as vast as Africa, it is not uncommon to see the struggles of both Christianity and Islam play out. Just a couple years ago, the world heard about the Boko Haram Islamic extremist group kidnapping schoolgirls in Nigeria, forcing them to convert to Islam and marriage with other members of Boko Haram. Lesser known are the Christian terrorists of the African continent who attack and kill the Muslim community among them. In the last two decades, the Western world has become so fearful after news of Muslim terrorist attacks and genocides, especially after 9/11. So much so that Western citizens have turned on other citizens simply because they are Muslim, look Middle-Eastern, or have an Arabic name. Sometimes we forget that some of the worst genocides in history have been instigated or participated in by Christians –

Rwanda is a country made up of a population with three ethnic communities, the two main communities, the Hutu and Tutsi and an additional community of Twa (or pygmies) who all spoke the same language, Kinyarwanda or Rwandan (Clapham, 1998). There is a stereotype of appearance attributed to these two main communities, with Tutsi being seen as tall and having an aquiline shaped nose, and the Hutu as being short and flat-nosed (Clapham, 1998). In the pre-colonial state of Rwanda, it was the Tutsis that occupied positions of power even though they were a minority community compared with the majority of the Hutu community, this remained the same until Habyarimana (a Hutu) became President (Clapham, 1998). The Germans, Europeans and Belgian’s colonised and during their time in Rwanda, made it known that they favoured the Tutsis over the Hutus, the Europeans going as far to regard the Hutu and Twa as inferior to the Tutsis (Clapham, 1998). The Belgians eventually changed their views, and favoured the Hutu, foreseeing that the majority Hutu would eventually become dominant (Magnarella, 2005). Supporting the coloniser’s views, Rwandan folktales describe the Tutsi as being intelligent and courageous, the Hutu as being obedient however not very clever, and the twa as loyal to the Tutsis, yet lazy and lacking in restraint (Clapham, 1998). The Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) was established by Tutsis who were exiled from Rwanda, they retained a strong sense of identity and formed the

In the spring and summer of 1994, Rwanda experienced a genocide that killed hundreds of thousands of innocent people. After seeing the tragedies that took place in Nazi Germany, one would expect the international community to respond quickly and effectively in the case of the Rwandan genocide. However, the killings were largely pushed aside or ignored by the rest of the world, begging the question of when states have the right or duty to betray another state’s sovereignty. There are different methods of intervening to protect human rights, but they are much debated and there have been many times that intervention has made a situation worse. However, there is a moral obligation that we all have to protect others when we can, whether they are part of our nation or not. If human rights are being abused in a state, other states have the duty to take multilateral actions to stop killings and provide aid.