The Genocide in Rwanda
INTRODUCTION
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.
CAUSES
Socio/Cultural Cause
The socio/cultural cause of the genocide in Rwanda came from the German and Belgian colonization, bringing along with them an idea of social science. Both colonial powers reinforced the Tutsi’s political power, which further oppressed the Hutus. This reinforcement caused the Hutus to envy the Tutsi’s aristocracy because they were privileged to all things, while the Hutus were privileged to nothing (Kapuscinski). This oppression led to many Hutu revolutions that the Hutus were successful in over the unprepared Tutsis. These victories of the Tutsis incidentally reversed the Rwandan apartheid system. The reversion of the system then gave
Rwanda was taken over by the Belgians causing the Hutus and Tutsis to not get along which caused genocide. “Facing a revolution instigated by the Hutu, the Belgians let the Hutus, who constituted the majority of Rwanda 's population, be in charge of the new government. This upset the Tutsi. The animosity between the two groups continued for decades.” Both clans were upset and started Genocide in Rwanda. The causes of their mass casualties resolved in a never ending dispute between the two clans.
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.
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 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.
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.
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.
Due to the European power’s imperialism on Africa it had sparked many events leading to the genocide of Rwanda. The Belgium’s rule of Rwanda and the Belgium’s favoring the Tutsis over the Hutus because the Tutsis was more white caused tension between the two ethnic group which ultimate caused genocide to happen in Rwanda. The human rights that were violated during the genocide has greatly impacted the state of life the people of Rwanda will
A genocide is defined as the deliberate killing of a group of people, especially of a certain ethnicity. By that definition and almost any other a dictionary could define, the killing of the Tutsis was certainly a genocide.The Rwandan Genocide occurred in 1994, in an African country called Rwanda. A long history of building friction between the Hutus and the Tutsis undeniably caused the mass murder of over 800,000 Tutsis, but various countries’ failure to act allowed the genocide to go on longer than it should have been able to.
The last and most important similarity is that these events still require our attention and help. The infrastructure has been rebuilt, Hutus and Tutsis live together as neighbors and there have been no major outbreaks of violence. In the years since the genocide, Rwandans have worked hard to overcome that legacy. It is considered a safe country with little to no corruption and a burgeoning economy (O’Donnell 4). Remains of victims are still being found. Here is a quotation that might better help you understand the recovery process from the prospective of a first hand witness in Rwanda:
On April 6 1994, prior to the death of president Juvenal Habyarimana, the nation of Rwanda become released into turmoil as genocides claimed the lives of at the least ½ a one million of its citizens (Seltzer in Des Forges, 1999,). Instigated by using the Hutu political elite and its military guide, their top objectives were the Tutsi, as well as Hutu moderates. Many have purported “ethnic hatred” as the motive of the Rwanda Genocide and at the same time as an ethnic divide became indeed found in Rwanda across the time of the warfare, the reasons for the genocide are more than one and was greater complex.
Paul Kagame, the President of Rwanda, once quoted that, “When we are unified, working together, no challenge is insurmountable” (Arnlaugsdottir). His quote holds meaning and truth as within the past twenty years, Rwanda has worked miraculously to rebuild and reunite the country that was left disheveled by social conflict and genocide. There are many factors that have contributed to the reconstruction of Rwanda, including international assistance, gacaca courts and International Criminal Tribunal, annual commemoration ceremonies, and wellness and counseling efforts. However, the influence and role of women within Rwanda is considered one of the most significant forces and contributors to the unification and restoration of the country. The
When most people hear the word genocide, they automatically think about the Holocaust and Hitler. But what people don’t know is that there have been many other genocides in the past and that there are genocides happening still today. One of these was the Rwandan genocide. Rwanda consisted of three different religions, the Hutu, the Tutsi, and the Twa. The Hutu are the majority and are about 85% of the population. The Tutsis are the second largest in Rwanda which is about 14% of them Tutsi. Finally, this leaves the Twa at about 1% of the population.
In this paper I will be discussing what happened during the Rwanda Genocide. This event took place during 1994 but only lasted around 100 days during these 100 days about 800,000 thousand Tutsis were slaughtered by the Hutu, this event actually started around 1933 but tension built on leading to the second genocide of Rwanda. The Hutu and Tutsi people of Rwanda Africa you could are of close descent but are very didn’t, they would exchange cattle or, the females of their tribe would be married off to the other tribe at first these two got along fine until the Europeans showed up.
Genocide is that large numbers of people were killed because of their ethnicity. However, a different level conflict is a central element led to genocide. “By 1994, Tutsi in Rwanda, much like Jews in Nazi Germany, were 'socially dead' people, whose murder was as acceptable as it became common”(). Between April and June 1994, an estimated more than 800,000 Tutsi were killed in the space of 100 days. Ethnicity causes of genocide in Rwanda is nothing new. There have been always been disagreements between the majority Hutus and minority Tutsis, but the hatred between them, since the colonial period. “The Nazis had seen the conflict as a racial war” (Cole and Symes, p. 100). This shows German Jews during the holocaust. Approximately 6 million Jews
Throughout history groups of people have tried to eliminate other groups for various reasons, but these attempts have been marked by the human race's refusal to allow such systematic extermination to occur. Unfortunately, in 1994 the global community collectively turned a blind eye toward the slaughter of hundreds of thousands of innocent people. The Rwandan Genocide revealed the governments of the world's ignorance and apathy, as well as their continuing selfishness and refusal to take blame. The killings were an attempt by a radical splinter, the Hutu Power, of the majority ethnic group, the Hutus, to eliminate a small minority the Tutsis. The beginning of the genocide is usually traced to April 6, 1994 when a plane crashed with Rwanda's president, Juvenal Habyarimanya on board.