The Rwandan Genocide And African Holocaust

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.

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.

“Genocide: the deliberate killing of a large group of people, especially those of a particular ethnic group or nation” (Merriam Webster, Incorporated, 2013). Today the term varies, as different aspects of harm are included, ranging from murder, to serious mental harm.Genocide was first declared an international crime by the United Nations General Assembly in 1942. Genocides have occurred across the world, and share many common factors. Throughout the 19th century mass murder and rape swept across the world, many of which sharing common influences. The most infamous mass killing, the Holocaust is known around the world, however many fail to acknowledge similar tragedies throughout world history. Both the Rwandan Genocide and the Holocaust

In between 1930 and 1945, an event took place that changed the world in many ways. The Holocaust was a genocide that consisted of the decimation of one single race, the Jews. This solemn event is very similar (and also quite different) to another event that took place only four thousand miles away. Like the Holocaust, this event is was a genocide and it took place at Rwanda in 1994. This genocide was between the Hutus and Tutsis. These two groups have a long background with each other that consisted of civil wars, switches in power and superiority, and tension. It began when the Europeans put the Tutsis in a superior position because they were the ones that closely resembled them, the Europeans, in physical appearance. It was the death of

The first murder that started this genocide was the assassination of Habyarimana. This murder was a signal to the government in

One particular case that has been studied recently is the Rwandan Genocide that occurred in 1994. The Rwandan Genocide remains one of the fastest and most brutal cases of genocide in modern history (Temitope and Danjibo 2013). In the years leading up to the genocide there was a civil war between the Government of Rwanda (led by Hutu General Habyarimana) and the Tutsi expat group, the Rwandan Patriotic Front, who had been in exile in Uganda (Buhr 2015). Following the cease-fire agreement in 1993, there were signs that the agreement would not hold despite the presence of UN peacekeepers (Buhr 2015). In April 1994 General Habyarimana was assassinated, and violence ensued (Buhr 2015). Tutsis were blamed for the death of Habyarimana, despite a lack of evidence (Buhr 2015). From April to July of 1994 vengeful Hutus slaughtered approximately one million Tutsis (Temitope and Danjibo 2013).

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

“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

Rwanda was a small country in Africa that had two ethncitys occupying it. The superior ethncity. The Tutsi mistreated the Hutu. When the Hutu were repersented with the chance to retaliate they took it. For a while the Hutu and the Tutsi lived as equals, and lived peacfully. Until power fell into

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

Three genocides that have taken place since the Holocaust are the Cambodian genocide, the Rwandan genocide, and The Bosnian Genocide. The term genocide was defined by the United Nations in 1948 meaning following acts such as killing, causing serious physical/mental harm, or deliberately inflicting conditions of life calculated to bring physical destruction, with intent to destroy a national, ethnic, racial, or religious group. Genocides do not just happen out of nowhere, often it is due to long-standing conflicts with religious or cultural groups and a desire to have power and control from either sides of conflict. Although the Holocaust is the most well known genocide, people often forget that genocides still happen and that some have ended only recently.

The evens that unfolded on that date of April 9th 1994 in the country of Rwanda sparked, what we now call today as the Rwandan Genocide. On April 9th 1994 the president of Rwanda, Juvenal Habyarimana was killed as his airplane came to land in Kigali. Immediately after president Habyarimana was declared dead, the country of Rwanda erupted into 100 days of terror and genocide. Fergal Keane asserts very early in his book SEASON OF BLOOD, that during these 100 days “one million people were hacked, shot, strangled, clubbed and burned to death” (Page 29). And this is to vehemently remind the reader to never forget the events that occurred in Rwanda from April to July of

Rwanda is a small country in between the two countries, the Dominican Republic of the Congo and Tanzania. Rwanda gained its independence in 1962. In 1916 Belgium ruled over the Rwandan people. The Belgium classified the Rwandan people into two groups, the Tutsis and the Hutus. The Belgians put the Tutsi people in charge, because the Tutsis were richer than the Hutu. The Tutsis punished the Hutus for many things and in many ways. In 1962, Hutus had control of the country, many of the Tutsis left the country. On April 7th, 1994, the 100 Days of Slaughter commenced. In just 100 days 800,000-1,000,000 Rwandan people died in the Rwandan Genocide.

Beginning April of 2004, the Rwandan Hutu started mass murders of Tutsi. This genocide is believed to have spawned from the civil war that was taking place at that time. This civil war was based on issues over power and resentment between the Tutsi and the Hutu. (Rwanda, 2008) Eventually the war escalated to the point where the Hutu began genocide of the Tutsi and anybody who opposed the ideas of the Hutu. The killing of the Tutsis became so common—in a very short amount of time—that it was practically acceptable amongst the Rwandans. (Hintjens, 1999) This was a very brutal and gruesome genocide. In just five weeks, approximately half a million Tutsi and innocent civilians had been murdered. (Hintjens, 1999) This is an astounding number of people, especially because the Hutu murdered the Tutsi at knife point—usually with a machete. (Snow, 2008)