Rwanda is mountainous, but they are dependent on agriculture for their economy. Most of the residents in Rwanda are actually farmers. The main consumptions that are domestic include yams and bananas, while coffee is their main export. Rwanda was separated into three ethnic groups: Hutu, Tutsi, and Twa for hundreds of years. The three ethnic groups shared many things, such as: Kinyarwanda, which is their language, culture, and customs. The ethnic division in 1994 was 1% Twa, 15% Tutsi, and 84% Hutu. The Rwandan President, Gregoire Keyibanda, wanted the Tutsi refugees to remove their power so the whole race will be gone. In the 1990s RPF forces invaded Rwanda. The members of "Hutu Power" took control of the government after the murder of the
Along with the Belgians support toward the Hutu came the Hutu Revolution in 1959. It all started with the Belgians getting the Hutu more political positions, getting them into secondary schools, and getting them to just participate in more public life. This scared the Tutsi. The Tutsi, feeling that there power was being jeopardized, decided they had to do something. Feeling that they were in a desperate situation they ended up killing a Hutu sub-chief. The vivid Hutu, feeling that it was time to take a stand, attacked Tutsi officials, who in return attacked the Hutu. This turned into one of many small
The Hutu’s believe the Tutsi’s were trying to regain power. There was a long history of rivalry and violence between these two tribes and the killing of the president was the catalyst ignited the voracious flames of revenge. The Hutu’s began their manhunt to find and kill the Tutsi’s in revenge for the years of perceived oppression when the Tutsi’s ruled Rwanda.
Between the months of April and July in 1994 approximately one million people were killed in Rwanda. There are three ethnic groups in Rwanda, Hutu, Tutsi, and Aboriginal Twa. The genocide occurred between two different groups, the Hutu and Tutsi people. The Hutu composed close to 85% of the population while the minority Tutsi people make up approximately 14% with the Twa people composing the remaining 1%. The Republic of Rwanda like most African nations has a history of colonization from different European countries with different and conflicting ideas of governance and how a colony should be developed and used. It can be argued that many of the
After the atrocities of the Rwandan Genocide and the lack on international intervention, Rwandan was forced to rebuild itself from scratch. Rwanda is a small country located in central Africa. Its population is divided between two ethnic groups: the hutus and the tutsis. The roots of the Rwandan genocide date back to 1924 when Belgium first took over Rwanda, formally a part of Tanzania. The Belgians viewed Tutsi superior to the hutus. Many referred to this as Hamitic hypothesis. It was motivated mainly by the fact that Tutsi were taller and thinner than hutus. This lead to a major boost in Tutsi egos and mistreatment of the Hutus for decades. This angered the Hutus leading to a major conflict between the two ethnic groups.
After RPF victory, they established a partnered government with Pasteur Bizimungu(Hutu) and Paul Kagame(Tutsi). Bizimungu as president and Kagame as vice president.
Pre-1959 Rwanda was run by the Tutsis. This ended when there was an overthrow in Rwanda by the Hutus. Being 85% of the population the Hutus felt they were to take positions of
On April 4, 1994, Hutu President, Juvenal Habyaimana and another Hutu leader, Cyprien Ntaryamira were on an airplane flying back to Rwanda. The plane was shot down and everyone on board was killed. The Hutu people blamed the terrorist attack on the RPF political group. They began to create hit lists for the Hutu militia to kill all of the Tutsi officials. Roadblocks were set up by the Hutu and if Tutsi people tried to pass, their IDs were checked. If they had any form of Tutsi identification, they were killed. The slaughter was just getting started. Neighbors were killing neighbors. Friends were killing friends. Family was killing family. Even religious leaders were killing the Tutsi people. There was thought to be no stop to the slaughter. (BBC)
The assassination of Habyarimana in April of 1994 set off even more violence during which Hutu groups conducted mass killings of Tutsis. The genocide was supported and coordinated by the national government as well as local military. Along with the local military, primary responsibility for all of the Tutsi killings lies with two Hutu militias that were organized for this purpose by political parties, the Interahamwe and the Impuzamugambi. Although once the genocide began, a great number of Hutu civilians took parts in the murders as well. There was no peace agreement in place at this point, the Tutsi rebels started their offensive, defeating the army and seizing control of the country.
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.
The killings were carried out with meticulous organization and their militias had the help of the government who gave them specific locations and people to go and kill (BBC News). Not only did government officials help the Hutus in the killing but the radio played a major role in it as well. The United End to Genocide article states that “The radio was utilized to not only list the location of specific Tutsis to be targeted, but to also justify the genocide. Radio hosts discussed discrimination the Hutus suffered under the power of the Tutsis … Radio stories were used to anger the Hutus and channel that anger into action” (United End to Genocide). The Hutus were going around exterminating every Tutsi when they encountered a Tutsi rebel group who fought back which only made the fighting more toxic on both sides. According to an article by BBC News “The killings were carried out so swiftly and effectively because the then governing party, MRND, had a youth wing called the Interahamwe, which was turned into a militia to carry out the slaughter. Weapons and hit-lists were handed out to local groups, who knew exactly where to find their targets” (BBC News). The newspaper and radio affected everybody, including priests and nuns who were also convicted of killing people just to save
Rwanda is a country in East Africa, which has had a mass killing with over 800,000 of its civilians dead. On April 6, 1994, present Rwandan President, Paul Kagame - at the time the leader of a Tutsi
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.
In Rwanda, there are 3 ethnic groups that make up the population. The Hutu ethnic group is the majority group with nearly 85% of the population. Next is the Tutsi with 14% of the population and finally the Twa making up 1% of the population.
Rwanda had 3 main ethnic groups: Tutsi ,Hutu and Twa. The Hutu were the biggest group in Rwanda and made up 85% of the the population. The Hutu started to drive the Tutsi out of Rwanda. Hutu extremists targeted members of the minority Tutsi community and any political opponents. In just 100 days over 800,00 people were
It’s over twenty years later, and these people still have reoccurring issues. Rwanda and Burundi still has ethnic tension in relation with Tutsi minority and the majority Hutus. Also in today’s society, Rwanda strives to rebuild its economy by their coffee and tea production as its primary exports. They continue to push efforts to reduce inequality and poverty (Global Communities, 2017).