The Rwandan 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.

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.

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.

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.

When Belgium took control of Rwanda in 1916 the Hutu’s and the Tutsi’s had a slight differentiation of the ethnic groups, the Hutu’s were farmers and the Tutsi’s were cattle herders. Though they both spoke the same language and had similar traditions. The Tutsi were seen as a higher class of people, only because it took more money to buy cattle, but it was possible to have upward movement in society through changes in jobs or through intermarriage (Jones).

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

Genocide has been plaguing the world for hundreds of years. Millions of innocent lives have been taken all for the sake of prejudice. One of the most atrocious aspects of genocide is that a large percentage of them are sponsored by the state in which they are taking place. Over the years scholars have studied just what motivates a state to engage in such awful behavior. What motivates them? Why would they do such horrendous things to their own citizens? Is it solely for some economic incentive, or is it simply out of hatred? Most importantly, how is it possible that they get away with it?

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

During the Rwandan genocide, it didn’t matter whether or not you have known someone for five years or fifteen years, in the end, you would be killed. In this time, many people who married Tutsis were targeted as well due to the fact that they were married or engaged. Even having a relationship even if it was not exclusive you were targeted for being interested in a Tutsi, who at the time were called cockroaches. Tutsis were identified by having lighter skin, lighter eyes, and thinner noses. They were also typically taller and thinner. Yet that doesn't make someone Tutsi or Hutu, yet back then if you had any of these traits you were considered a Tutsi even if you were really a Hutu. This racial segregation that was created led to many

“If human is capable of conducting genocide, no need for an asteroid to wipe out dinosaurs.” -Toba Beta

Genocide is not a good thing to have in our world so I am going to talk about sometimes it has happened, How to fix it, and why the heck would someone start genocide.

In the year 1994, the Rwandan Genocide took place. During this time, Rwandans were set into two distinctive groups that were at war with each other. He Hutu ethnic majority were determined to remove the Tutsi ethnic minority. In westernized states, many people were not concerned with this because they felt that there was no real connection. The United States, specifically, did not want to engage in what they believed to be “not their fight”. In 2004, Hotel Rwanda was released and it baffled many westerns when they realized how little help they provided. It also caused an emotional response because it was noted how much could have changed if they had stepped in. Hotel Rwanda was a very historically accurate film and had many key features

Rwanda Prime Minister Faustin Twagiramungo stated, “We have the same language, the same religions. There is no song or dance or drum-beat that is peculiar to one or the other of our people. We had disputed before the colonial period over things like land-ownership, and sometimes there were little fights, but the chiefs dealt with it in the traditional way and never did we suffer destruction like we have just experienced” (1). The racist theories of earlier colonizers tried to differentiate the two groups based on physical appearances. Belgians considered Tutsi to be more European and were given educational advantages. Hutu were excluded from all levels of power and left as a minority position. These disadvantages along with the nations poverty, over population from refugees, land pressures, and ecological degradation would rage the extremists and fuel their hatred. Rebels (interahamwe) and Hutu extremists hunted Tutsi. The propaganda was fed through the Radio stations giving Hutu ideas of how to find, capture, and kill Tutsi. Hutu rebels called the Tutsi minority cockroaches and felt it was