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.

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.

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.

Before the genocide, Rwanda existed as a country the size of Vermont with a population of 8 million. Rwanda was controlled by Belgium, who gained control of 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

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

Juvenal coming from northern Rwanda favored the Hutu immensely and would often give the most crucial and important jobs to Hutu exclusively. Tutsi were essenetially barred from holding any jobs such as police, or president. About a decade later in the country of Uganda, the dictator Milton Obote is overthrown. Part of the soldiers who helped overthrow Obote were Rwandan exiles. In appreciation for the help in overthrowing Obote, the new Ugandan government proceeded to back the Rwanda exiles militarily. Helping the mostly Tutsi exiles form the Rwanda Patriotic Front. Then in 1989 the market for coffee takes a dive. Now since Rwanda focused on cash crops such as coffee, this market crash causing severe economic problems. However most of the economic problems were most felt by the working class, mainly the Hutu peasants. Furthermore, the Hutu government faced foreign pressures to create a multi-party system in Rwanda that included power-sharing. This was something that the Hutu elite were not interested in doing. After several centuries of oppression under the Tutsi, The Hutu elite were never going to give up their power, so that the people who caused them so much pain and turmoil could potentially do it again. The solution that Harbyarimana’s party decided to implement is frightening similar to the tactics employed by Germany before the start of

Rape itself is a sensitive topic, although it was desensitized by the Hutu men after they raped approximately 250,000 women (Brysiewicz et al. 2). The genocide in Rwanda was devastating, causing problems with deeper roots than a normal war. Not only were there upwards of 1 million deaths, a whole community was destroyed and corrupted by HIV/AIDS. Rape was such a driving force of the genocide because the Tutsi women were sexually sweeter, and it allowed the community to feel destroyed (Brysiewicz et al. 3). Rape babies serve as constant reminder of the tragedy; the effects are everlasting and people slowly died from HIV/AIDS, as well as social isolation.

Rwanda was one of the worst genocide in 1994, where 800,000 people but Tutsis, were exterminated by the Hutu. But opposed to media and governments, this was the reason of Rwanda’s political and economic position in the world system, it involved like World Bank and International Monetary Fund policies, the international aids and others.

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.

In the Rwandan genocide, 800,000 people were killed over the span of three months. In the aftermath of the Rwandan genocide, the atrocities that the extremist Hutus committed can never be forgotten because the victims, the government, and the perpetrators were all affected. In Rwanda, the people have been scarred by the horrors they saw and the family members they lost. The government and economy of Rwanda were non-existent immediately after the genocide but, they have made strides to rebuild themselves to a state better than before the genocide. Justice in Rwanda was obtained by the establishing of Gacaca courts and help from the ICC. The Rwandan genocide’s aftermath left the country in rubble as today it is still trying to rebuild.

The Rwandan Genocide took place for in 1994 where the Hutus began to massacre the Tutsis due to many years of oppression aided by Belgian influences. While the Palestinian Genocide occurred between 1947-1948 and Zionists wished to overtake Palestinian land and remove all Arab influences while expanding upon their territory. Yet, the Rwandan Genocide and the Palestinian Genocide had a distinguished similarity; to ethnically cleanse the land.

Genocide has been a problem to all countries for decades causing death to thousand of families, ethnic groups giving them no way out of this tratric events. Rwanda was a well known country to have suffer through this tragic events, giving only pain and suffering to people in Rwanda. Genocide mostly comes from a group of people that tend to make a message and to cause fear and those groups were called the Hutu and Tutsis. And why it happen is a question we wonder, well it all happen during a civil war of Rwanda in 1990 a conflict between the Hutu and Tutsis. The Tutsis were were mostly refugees that were later murdered by the Hutu, must of these mass murders were done by the belief of one ethnic group being better than the other regarding they have the same religion and traditions.