The Rwandan Genocide And The 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.

During Genocide a lot of events happened. For example the death population increased. “Over the course of 100 days from April 6 to July 16 1994, an estimated 800,000 to 1 million Tutsis and some moderate Hutus were slaughtered in the Rwandan genocide. A recent report has estimated the number to be close to 2 million.”(Statistics | Survivors Fund." Statistics | Survivors Fund. N.P., n.d. Web. 15 May 2015.) Due to The events of genocide caused the population to decrease which put people in Rwanda in constant fear. One person by the name of Laetitia shared her story. Laetitia stated “In 1991, my family and I were harassed and seriously assaulted by neighbours, forcing us to move from Ruhengeri to Gisenyi where we were when the genocide began. I spent two weeks living in a forest, with nothing to eat but mud, until hunger flushed me out and I begged shelter from some

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.

For years, Rwanda has been a hotbed of racial tension. The majority of the Rwandan population is made up of Hutu's, with Tutsi's making up the rest of it. Ever since European colonial powers entered the country and favoured the Tutsi ethnic group over the Hutu by putting Tutsi people in all important positions in society, there has been a decisive political divide between the two groups. This favouring of the Tutsi over the Hutu, and the Hutu subjugation as an ethnic lower class resulted in the civil war and revolution of 1959, where the Hutu overthrew the Tutsi dominated government, and resulted in Rwanda gaining their independence in 1962.

In fact, many of her good friends were Hutus. Her parents too were ‘blind’ to the reality of hatred around them. They believed that nothing would harm them, given that they had done good things for their neighbours. When Habyarimana’s presidential plane was shot down on 6 April 1994, all that Immaculée’s parents believed was proven false. All she experienced from her neighbours as she grew up turned out to be like “a gathering storm” which anticipated a heavy “rain” to befall Rwanda – the genocide. This seems to the reason why she entitled the first section of her book, “A Gathering Storm.”

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

Throughout the 20th century, numerous acts of genocides have attempted to bring the complete elimination and devastation of large groups of people originating from various particular ethnicities. With these genocides occurring in many regions of the world, the perpetrators often organizing such crimes, have historically been larger and more powerful than the victims themselves. Often being the government and its military forces. However, the lack of international response associated with these genocides, further contributed to the devastating outcomes. On April 6,1994, the fastest killing spree of the century took place in Rwanda against the Tutsi minority population. With many warning signs having already been proclaimed prior to the start of the Rwandan genocide, I believe that with international interference, this bloodshed could have ultimately been prevented.

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.

Chapter Four “The police won't do anything. These interahamwe are part of the government. Don't talk to them, don't even look at them especially since your Tutsi.” (Pg. 34) During this time of the book Immaculee was traveling with John to visit her friend Sarah and her parents.

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.

The massacre in Rwanda began in April 1994 and ended in July 1994, it lasted a total of 100 days. In Rwanda there are two main ethnic groups the Tutsi and Hutu. The goal of the genocide was to get rid of all of the Tutsi nation (Rwandan Genocide of 1994, March 25, 2011). The Tutsi nation was a popular nation in Rwanda. A man named, Romeo Dellaire, was the general. He led the peacekeeping mission on the behalf of Canada. Romeo Dellaire saw many things in the war and it provoked him to become an advocate for the victims of the genocide (Romeo Dellaire, April 4, 2008). As families of Rwanda finally got to go home after a long 100 days of being in camps, away from home and treated poorly, they were walking to ships. One elderly lady said “I hear there is peace in Rwanda” Rwandan Refugees Treck Home, March 18, 2003). “The first of Rwanda’s long march of refugees was a single file line of ragged but relatively healthy families,” (Rwandan Refugees Trek Home, March 18,

Though Immaculee was spared from death, she certainly encountered many life-threatening situations including, but not limited to witnessing crimes of cruelty and murder. Immaculee’s encounters started with all of the Tutsi villagers coming to her house in despair and ended with evading land mines on her way to the UN in Kigali. While home from University, for Easter Break, the Rwandan president was killed. The next day, Immaculee and her family were at home listening to the radio, when they started to hear about the Interahamwe, a group of Hutu killers that took drugs, drank, and killed as many innocent Tutsis as they could. After word got out that the Interahamwe was killing Tutsis, thousands of Tutsi neighbors showed up seeking advice from Immaculee’s father, a well-respected man.

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.

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.

The Rwandan genocide did not occur overnight, but was a result of the ethnic conflict building up between the Tutsi and Hutu tribes. In the late 1980’s, Tutsi exiles living in Uganda, formed an army called the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), with the intention to overthrow the Hutu government and return home. On October 1st, 1990, the RPF invaded Rwanda, beginning the civil war that lasted for almost two years. On July 12th, 1992, a cease-fire accord was signed, which went into effect on July 31st, 1992. Meanwhile, in the early 1990’s, Rwandan government officials met secretly and began assembling the Interahamwe, a militia of Hutu youths. Dr. Gregory Stanton, President of Genocide Watch, explains that the Rwandan army provided the Interahamwe