The Rwandan Genocide Of Rwanda

The two ethnic groups that were include in the Rwanda Genocide was the Tutsis and Hutus. The Tutsis were the minority population in Rwanda, but they held all the positions of authority. On the other hand, the Hutu made up around 85% of Rwanda’s population, but held no political power, they were denied higher education and land ownership. The size of the nose and the color of the eyes were the factors that determined whether a person was Hutu or Tutsi. The Tutsis disapprove of the colonial rule of the Belgians and demanded to become more independent. After World War II, the Tutsis felt impatient and that it was time they took matters in their own hands to pursuit their independence. In 1959, the tension and violence between the Tutsis and Hutus were greatly increased.

The Rwandan Genocide was the 1994 mass slaughter in Rwanda of the ethnic Tutsi and Hutu peoples. The Rwandan Genocide left 70% of total ethnic Tutsi dead and a total of 20% of the entire country 's population dead. Today, more than twenty years later, Rwanda is a growing society with an ever expanding skyline.

The Hutu started to go door to door killing the Tutsi with machetes, cubs or any hand weapons they could get their hands on to because bullets were to expense for the Hutu to affored, about.com says (“Some of the victims were given the option of paying for a bullet so that they'd have a quicker death”). The reason why the Hutu would know who was a Tutsi was because they would look at their identity card that would have what they were, a Hutu, a Tutsi or a Twa. All the Tutsi men & children were killed as soon as they were found, but some of the women would be kept & tortured before being killed & in many causes they would be raped first then killed adding humiliation to the mix of all things. The killing lasted about 100 days or 4 months averaging about 800,000 Tutsi men & women died. The slaughter stop because the RPF came into play, the RPF or known as the Rwandan Patriotic Front is a trained military made up of Tutsi people that was made some years before. The RPF forced matter into their own hands & went into Rwanda to take over, they came out wining but at the same time the flet like if they “had lost because they have had wished to get here sooner than later” says a Tutsi

The Tutsi tribe was historically seen as the ruling class of Rwanda while Hutu were considered farmer folk. Following World War I the Belgians were authoritarian rulers in the region, fueling further disputes between the Hutu

Far before the Rwandan genocide started, before the terms Hutu and Tutsi existed, the King of Belgium decided to explore Africa. He sent an explorer who decided that the rich people who were an inch taller and had longer noses were descendants of white Europeans and decided to name them Tutsis. He decided that the poor, who were the vast majority, were native to Africa and would be called Hutus. This was the beginning of the Rwandan genocide. The key to this divide was that the monarchy was led by these newly named Tutsis and cows were used to symbolize wealth. For a time, Hutus could become Tutsis if they owned enough cows. Due to this belief, cows were often given as presents. It benefited the ruling Tutsis to believe this theory, so they

There was a lot of history involved between the Tutsi and the Hutu people of Rwanda even before the genocide occurred. This history goes back even before the Europeans came to Rwanda. The Hutu have always been the majority, but the Tutsi were considered the elite. This was especially true because before the Europeans came, they had a Tutsi as their king. In the early 20th Century, when the Belgians took control over the Germans, they found the Tutsi to be easier to get along with and to be more “graceful” in appearance (meaning more Caucasian). In 1933, the Belgians introduced ethnic identity cards and made sure most of the jobs and education went to the Tutsi, which angered the

In addition to the similarities and social differences between the Hutu and Tutsis, Belgium’s intervention in Africa led up to a series of innocent murders occurring between the Hutu and Tutsis. The Hutu and Tutsis were known to have “tribal hatred” towards each other, and Belgium later “assumed that ethnicity could be clearly distinguished by physical characteristics” (Britannica.com). This model that was used by Belgium, was later implemented into Rwanda “whereby the categories of Hutu and Tutsi were no longer fluid” (Britannica.com). This new system now led to believe that “Tutsis had migrated with their cattle from northern Africa at some earlier time and had come to dominate the more lowly Hutus”

It was not until April 6, 1994 that the official genocide begun when the Rwandan president Habyarimana was assassinated and all Tutsis were ordered to be killed, more than 500 000 of them by the end of the genocide in July 1994 (Powell, 2015). The genocide ended and a new government was set up when the RPF captured the capital city, Kigali, but still there remains lingering tension in the region today (Powell, 2015).

Rwanda is mainly shared by two ethnic groups, the Hutu and the Tutsi. When the Hutu (the more dominant group) first entered the area, they found it inhabited by the Twa, Pygmy hunters whom they forced to retreat. Hutu life centered on small farms and small groups or tribes. With Hutu kings ruling limited areas of land. The Tusi entered Rwanda around the 15 century, they implemented a lord-vassal relationship or better known as

Although there have been a number of genocides in Africa, the 1994 Rwandan genocide was the most vehement. During no other time in history were so many African people killed; roughly a million people within a hundred days were slaughter in the most dehumanizing ways. The genocide happened nearly twenty years ago; yet, the small central African country is still recuperating from the tragedy (Remembering Rwanda). It was not all Africans who were murdered during the Rwandan genocide. The Tutsi tribes were being targeted by Hutu tribes simply because the Tutsi tribes were given positions of power that the Hutu people wanted. White stated, “Despite the complexity of Rwandan society, the Belgian colonial administrators saw only that Tutsi, tended to be taller, had paler skin and more European facial features than the Hutu. These physical characteristics and the fact

The argument between the Hutus and the Tutsis began way before the genocide started, and the Tutsis were oppressing the Hutus first. During 500 and 1000 BC, the “Hutus first settled in the Great Lakes region of Central Africa” (The Heart) and lived in large agricultural families. The Tutsis, on the other hand, came much later to that land from Ethiopia, and they settled with the Hutus. They acquired their “language, beliefs and customs” (The Heart). The Tutsis began becoming more wealthy than the Hutus because they were cattle herders and the Hutus were farmers. The Tutsis became economically dominant over the Hutus and ruled the Hutus. Many historians believe that it was economic, not ethnic, differences in how close they were to the king. If someone was closer in distance from the king, then they are Tutsis, and if someone lived farther away from the king then they were Hutus. In the late 19th Century, the Belgians took over and made the Tutsis and the Hutus have identification cards. These cards made it possible for the Tutsis to have a better education and better jobs than the Hutus. The disagreement between the Hutus and the Tutsis started long before the genocide and caused numerous people to suffer.

The Hutu and the Tutsi are two different racial groups in Rwanda. The group that owned most of the cattle in Rwanda was called the Tutsi and everyone else was the Hutu. Now if an individual wanted to become a Tutsi they just had to marry into this group or acquire cattle.

Originally, the relationship between the Hutu and Tutsi tribes was not hostile- it was a contractual agreement based on skill. The Hutus, who had settled in Rwanda first, were mainly involved in small scale agriculture. The Tutsis were more advanced socially and politically and took over control once they migrated to the area. Tutsi people were cattle herders and soon developed a client-patron like arrangement with the Hutus, called Ubhuahke. In this agreement, Hutus provided personal services and allegiance in exchange for Tutsis providing them cattle, land, and protection (Rwanda, UPenn). Although they were the minority

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)

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.