This investigation studies two of the causes of the 1994 genocide of Rwanda. The two causes are examined in order to see to what extent each contributed to the genocide. The social and ethnic conflicts between two Rwandan groups called the Hutus and the Tutsis caused violent disputes and riots. The assassination of President Juvenal Habyarimana is often thought of as the event that sparked the mass murders. Did the assassination of President Juvenal Habyarimana influence the Rwandan genocide of 1994 more than the ongoing social and ethnic conflicts?
Both the short and long term causes are studied. The genocide could have resulted from numerous built up problems or one specific event. It is clear that for hundreds of years, the Hutus
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It is important to study the immediate and gradual causes of the genocide. A good understanding of the devastating Rwandan genocide can help prevent a repeat of such violent events. There were numerous situations that led to the murders, but some could have had a greater impact than others. Two of the biggest causes of the genocide were the assassination of Rwandan President Juvenal Habyarimana and the hostility between the Hutus and Tutsis. The animosity between the two groups was built up over hundreds of years, while Habyarimana’s assassination was an incident that took place within hours of the beginning of the genocide. Habyarimana’s death seemed to be a trigger for the genocide, but the conflicts between the Hutus and Tutsis could have played an even larger role in the mass murders of thousands of Rwandans. The past relationship between the two groups must be studied in order to understand how they were able to reach a genocide.
The History of Rwanda
The first known inhabitants of Rwanda were the Twa. They may have been there as early as 30,000 B.C. The Hutus arrived sometime between the seventh and tenth century, and later the Tutsis arrived around the fourteenth century. The Hutus were the majority and made up about eighty-five percent of the population. The minorities were the Tutsis, who made up fourteen percent of the population and the Twa, who were about one
In 1994, a tragedy occurred in Rwanda where millions of Tutsis’, the minority, were brutally murdered by the Hutu, the majority. This event is known as the Rwandan genocide and left many people wondering what could have caused this devastating event to occur. Over the years, many theories have surfaced and among those were the theories of Peter Uving. In both Why Did People Participate in Genocide? A Theoretically Informed Synthesis and The Condition of Structural Violence Peter Uvin seeks to explain why violence occurs in society. Nevertheless, the two articles are different in the sense that Why Did People Participate in Genocide? A Theoretically Informed Synthesis is primarily focused on the other theories which include political scientists,
In 1994, genocide unfolded in Rwanda claiming the lives of more than 700,000 Tutsi massacred at the hands of Hutu extremist, while the entire world stood by and watched. Some would argue this event was a result of civil unrest between the Tutsi and Hutu stemming from ancient
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.
While there is no single outlying cause of the Rwandan Genocide, the ongoing tensions between the Hutu and the Tutsi is what is believed to have eventually lead to the Rwandan genocide. The majority of the killings occurred shortly after President Habyarimana 's plane was shot down
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
Throughout the 1600s to the mid 1990s, the Tutsi tribe in Rwanda, and the Hutu tribe of Rwanda have always been arch enemies. Although the Hutus have had a prolonged hate for the Tutsi tribe, this hate was not physically expressed, until 1994. From April to July of 1994, over 80,000 Tutsi people were murdered and tortured for their African heritage. The Rwanda genocide is considered to be one of the worst massacres the world has ever seen since the Holocaust. This paper will touch a few things that occurred after the massacre, and will also answer the questions of why this massacre started, what occurred during this genocide. The Rwandan genocide was a massacre based off of discrimination and hatred for a specific tribal group. This
This source’s goal is inform its audience about the motives behind any genocide – Power, Psychological resentment, Purification and Pecuniary gain. Rwandan Genocide against Tutsis in 1994 depicts all these motives behind the massacre. But the most profound factor which fueled the transmission of genocidal ideology was the longstanding and deeply ingrained ethnic differences and polarization between the Hutus and Tutsis backed by the motive of Pecuniary gain.by the policy makers and top guns, who commit this crime and hide behind the facelessness of regimes or governments.
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
The way to distinguish the difference between Hutus and Tutsis groups was to know where the Rwanda settlements were. The cattle location determined the group. The people with the most cattle were the Tutsis. They could change the fact that they were a
This investigation will seek to answer the question “How Did the Rwandan Genocide of 1994 Effect the Hutu and Tutsi?” I chose this question because last year I read the book Left to Tell and I wanted to know more about the two different types of groups, the Hutus and the Tutsis. This was and still is an important topic because many died that day just for belonging to a specific group. This topic shows how much our world has changed since 1994. In order to answer my historical investigation question, I have structured my analysis section using the following method. First, I will answer how the two groups are different? And how these differences began the Rwandan Genocide? Next, I will talk about a survivor and her experience, then, the survival rate of Hutus and Tutsis. There are two main sources this paper will cover, first, a website called the United Human Rights Council, then, a book called Left to Tell.
On the early summer of 1994 the exodus of the Genocide in Rwanda began. Almost 800,000 people were killed in the period of 100 days. All due to bitter accusations from the biggest ethnic group- the Hutus. Somewhere inside Rwanda’s political elite, the group of Hutus aggressively criticised less than half of the Tutsi population, for the incredibly increasing social, economic, and political pressures, within the country, and were also wrongly accused of encouraging a ‘Tutsi-dominated rebel group’. Due to this, and also by the help of propaganda and perpetual political manipulating, the president, Habyarimana, (a Hutu), decided to split up the two ethnic groups, towards the end of 1992.
Genocide is “the deliberate and systematic destruction of a racial, ethnic, political, or cultural group”. In Rwanda for example, the Hutu-led government embraced a new program that called for the country’s Hutu people to murder anyone that was a Tutsi (Gourevitch, 6). This new policy of one ethnic group (Hutu) that was called upon to murder another ethnic group (Tutsi) occurred during April through June of 1994 and resulted in the genocide of approximately 800,000 innocent people that even included women and children of all ages. In this paper I will first analyze the origins/historical context regarding the discontent amongst the Hutu and Tutsi people as well as the historical context as to why major players in the international
The 1994 genocide in Rwanda took place on the 7th of April, a day after the aircraft carrying the Rwandan President Juvenal Habyarimana and Cyprien Ntaryamira, president of neighboring Burrundi was shot down. The 7th of April 1994 saw a succession of massacres across Rwanda. In 100 days, this state-led extermination campaign targeted at the Tutsi minority and “moderate Hutus” was orchestrated by specific, influential architects -Hutu hardliners of the Habyarimana’s inner circle. This power clique was accountable for the systematic annihilation of Rwanda’s Tutsi minority, an approximate of over half a million civilian lives.
The second cause of the genocide is the social difference between the two big ethnic groups that lives in Rwanda. There has always been a lot of tension between the two ethnic groups Hutus and Tutsis. The social differences between the two has sparked a lot of violence which has caused to the massacre of people from both ethnic groups. Tutsis were economically, socially and
The Rwandan Genocide was a dark moment in the modern history of the African continent when long-standing ethnic tensions brought an entire nation to a state of chaos and carnage, in which the government attacked its own people and one neighbor attacked the next. The world, which was slow to respond, allowed many more deaths in Rwanda than what should have happened. After the world’s greatly needed but delayed response, there are many things that we must consider to keep this devastation from happening again. Throughout the Rwandan genocide, the Tutsi were targeted due to ethnic tension and disagreements with the Hutu, resulting in about 500,000 Tutsi killed.