The Rwandan Genocide

1
The Rwandan Genocide

• 1994

2
History of the Conflict

• In the fifteenth century the Tutsis were the
  rulers of most of today's Rwanda
• Put in place by the Belgians to rule
• Tutsis were a minority of the population, mostly
  herders
• Majority Hutus were mostly croppers
• When kings distributed the land, they gave it the
  to Tutsis who charged Hutus to live and work on
  the land

3
Evolution of Titles

• Originally an ethnic distinction
• Everyone who wasnt Tutsi is labeled Hutu
• Became an economic status
• Gaining wealth meant losing Hutuness
• When the Belgians gained the land as part of the
  Treaty of Versailles in 1918, they used the
  distinction to divide and rule
• Issued passcards to Rwandans
• Gave preferential treatment to
• Tutsis (with the long nose)
• Hutus had blunt nose

4
Beginning of a Social Revolution

• Hutus begin to form a a nationalist party
  (Parmahutu) to fight for their rights in 1959
• Began killings of Tutsi (20,000 the first year)
• 200,000 Tutsi refugees flee border and from the
  Rwanda Patriotic Front
• Rwanda gains its independence from Belgium in 1961

5
What we have so far

• Tutsi minority is ruling
• Hutus have formed groups to fight against the
  injustice
• Tutsi refugees have formed groups in other
  countries

6
The Rwandan Civil War

• Conflict lasting from 1990-1993
• Between the government of
• President Habyarimana (Hutu)
• and the rebel Rwandan Patriotic
• Front (Tutsi group in other country)
• Tutsis were trying to take back the power in
  Rwanda
• Peace agreements were signed, but Habyarimana
  (Hutu President) doesnt cede power to any other
  political party

Habyarimana
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The Action of

• two extremist Hutu militias
• The Interahamwe
• "those who stand together" or "those who work
  together" or "those who fight together
• A Hutu paramilitary organization
• Backed by the Hutu Government
• Impuzamugambi
• "Those who have the same goal" or "Those who have
  a single goal"
• Hutu militia

8
The Catalyst

• On April 6, 1994,the airplane carrying Rwandan
  President Habyarimana and the Hutu president of
  Burundi was shot down as it prepared to land in
  Kigali
• Both presidents died when the plane crashed.
• Responsibility for the attack is disputed, with
  both the RPF and Hutu extremists being blamed
• In spite of disagreements about the identities of
  its perpetrators, the attack on the plane is to
  many observers the catalyst for the genocide

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The Beginnings of Genocide

• National radio urged people to stay in their
  homes
• the government-funded station RTLM
• broadcast vitriolic attacks against
• Tutsis and Hutu moderates
• Hundreds of roadblocks were set up by the militia
  around the country
• Lieutenant-General Dallaire of the UN
  Peacekeeping Force and UNAMIR, escorting Tutsis
  in Kigali, were unable to do anything as Hutus
  kept escalating the violence and even started
  targeting the peacekeepers themselves

10
The Killings

• Killed in their villages or in towns, often by
  their neighbors and fellow villagers
• Militia members typically murdered their victims
  by hacking them with machetes, although some army
  units used rifles
• The victims were often hiding in churches and
  school buildings, where Hutu gangs massacred them
• Ordinary citizens were called on by local
  officials and government-sponsored radio to kill
  their neighbors and those who refused to kill
  were often killed themselves
• Everyone killed so they werent killed
  themselves
• Mayors
• Priests
• EVERYONE

11
Number Killed

• Unlike Nazis they didnt keep record
• The RPF government has stated that 1,071,000 were
  killed, 10 of which were Hutu (determined in
  February 2008)
• Gourevitch agrees with an estimate of one million
• United Nations lists the toll as 800,000
• African Rights estimates the number as "around
  750,000,"
• Human Rights Watch states that it was "at least
  500,000

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Issues Post-Genocide

• Approximately two million Hutu refugees, most of
  whom were participants in the genocide and with
  anticipation of Tutsi retaliation, fled from
  Rwanda, to Burundi, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zaire
  (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo)
• Thousands of them died in epidemics of diseases
  common to the squalor of refugee camps, such as
  cholera and dysentery
• These are the refugee camps that were aided by
  the UN and the US
• The refugees have fueled wars in Uganda, Burundi,
  and the DRC

14
Questions Still Exist

• Why didnt the US do anything?
• Why didnt the UN listen to Daillaire?
• How could people kill their neighbors?
• How many actually died?
• How can we prevent this from happening again?

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