Hotel
Rwanda
Mr. McClung’s Social 10-1
A TRUE STORY
1. Define genocide.
2. What role does the radio play in the Rwandan genocide? What might have been
different without it?
3. What was the difference between the Hutu and the Tutsis?
4. How did the distinction between the Hutu and the Tutsis become significant?
5. What is the Hutu militia called?
6. What countries represented the UN in Rwanda?
Mr. McClung’s Social 10-1
7. What do you think UN Colonel Oliver means when he
says, “We are peace-keepers, not peacemakers.”? Is
there a difference? If so, what is it? If not, why does he
say this?
8. Why does the UN Colonel refuse to take action or to take the hotel's refugees?
9. What occurs when the U.N. is finally able to get a bus for European citizens?
What does this tell us about the international response?
10. When Paul called the president of the hotel, who did the president contact to
stop the Hutu from killing everyone at the hotel?
Mr. McClung’s Social 10-1
11. When this phone call was made why did it stop the Hutu from killing the hotel
people?
12. Who do you think is the most at fault for this whole event: the Belgians, the UN
or the people of Rwanda? Why?
13. Consider the Press man’s comment to Paul
about people watching the genocide on
TV. What do you think needs to happen
to get people to change and get involved in
events like Rwanda? Do you think people
would stand by and watch today? Why or
why not?
14. How did the genocide end?
15. After watching the movie, think briefly about the role of national and global
institutions in dealing with genocide. Does the world have a responsibility to
intervene? Be able to support your response.
Mr. McClung’s Social 10-1
How is it possible that most people did not know what was happening in Rwanda? Do
you know what has happened in Darfur or Uganda? What can we do today to be made
more aware of potentially tragic situations around the world?
Check out these links:
http://www.savedarfur.org Save Darfur
http://www.theresolve.org/ Resolve Inc.
http://www.lracrisistracker.com/ current LRA news
http://www.amnesty.org/ Amnesty International
http://www.hrw.org/ Human Rights Watch
http://www.hrrfoundation.org/ Hotel Rwanda Rusesabagina Foundation
Statistics:
Rwanda
800,000-1.07 million killed in 100 days
8,000-10,710 killed per day
334-447 killed per hour
6-7 killed per minute
Holocaust
6 million Jews killed in 1460 days
4,110 killed per day
171 killed per hour
3 killed per minute
Sudan/South Sudan (and Darfur)
Darfur statistics
400,000 people killed in 1095 days
366 people killed every day
15 people killed every hour
Current Statistics
More than 4640 killed in 2011
Northern Uganda
500,000 people killed in 7300 days
69 people killed every day
17 people killed every hour
Somalia Civil War
400,000 people killed in 7300 days
55 people killed every day
2 person killed every hour
Mexican Drug War
60,420 people killed in 1825 days
19,396 people killed in 2011
53 people killed every day (2011)
2 people killed every hour (2011)
These statistics were calculated from information found on amnesty.org
Mr. McClung’s Social 10-1
HISTORYOF RWANDA AND THE RWANDAN GENOCIDE
Read the attached reading “THE RWANDAN GENOCIDE” and answer the following
questions. Answer the following questions on a separate sheet of paper. They must
be in complete sentences.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Define genocide.
What does ‘pockets of autonomy’ refer to?
How was the Belgium government neglectful of the diversity in Rwanda?
Identify a relationship between the Rwandan Genocide and imperialism.
Identify a relationship between the Rwandan genocide and ethnocentrism.
When was the first case of mass killings in Rwanda? What were the figures
associated?
7. When was Rwanda granted independence? Which group was put into power?
8. What initiated the 1994 Rwandan genocide?
9. Between April and July of 1994, how many people were murdered? What
peoples were targeted?
10. What was the Hutu militia called?
11. What were the actions taken by the international community?
12. When and how did the genocide end?
13. What became of the refugees?
14. What were the results of the Rwandan genocide on neighboring countries?
15. What have been the consequences for the genocide?
16. What measures have been taken to resolve and prevent future conflict?
Mr. McClung’s Social 10-1
THE RWANDAN GENOCIDE
History
Germany was the first European power to colonize Rwanda (1899), but it turned over the territory
to Belgium in 1917 following its defeat in World War I. It was under Belgian colonial rule that
ethnic divisions became defined and the categorization of Tutsi and Hutu became more rigid. In
the 1930s, the Belgian colonial government issued identity cards that included rigidly defined
ethnic affiliations in an effort to more easily control the people. The Belgians also sought to
centralize control over Rwanda by instituting a uniform system of rule that eliminated pockets of
autonomy, some of which were Hutu-controlled, that had existed under the traditional Tutsi
kingdom. The Belgian government was particularly neglectful of the people under its colonial
administrations. Rwandans were not provided much education, nor was the infrastructure or a
viable economy developed under the colonial government.
The rigid view of unchanging ethnic identity came to be adopted by Hutu extremists who initiated
and directed the Genocide of 1994. As David Newbury points out, this view is based on "a
biological model of social classifications" that is seriously called into question by the historical
facts (Newbury, 1997: 213). In fact, Hutus and Tutsis have long shared a common culture,
religion and language, and prior to colonization, conflicts that occurred were about the process of
state formation and power, and more often occurred within ethnic groups than between them
(Newbury, 1997: 213).
In the mid-1950s, the Belgian colonial administration reversed its policy of supporting the Tutsi
hierarchy and began to support the Hutu majority who demanded a more democratic system of
governance. Tutsi elites began agitating for immediate independence while the Hutu elites sided
with the Belgians in demanding a transition period in which educated Hutu leaders would take
power followed by full independence. From 1959-1961, Hutu leaders carried out a mass-killing of
the Tutsi in which 20-100,000 were killed and after which thousands fled. By 1964, 300,000
Rwandan refugees were registered with the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees in Uganda,
Burundi, Tanzania, and Congo (Kimonyo, 2000). It was the children and grandchildren of these
refugees who returned to Rwanda after the 1994 genocide to reclaim the government.
Independence
Rwanda's first president in 1961 was Grégoire Kayibanda, and his government was dominated by
Hutus from the central and southern regions of the country. A massacre of Hutus in neighboring
Burundi in which some 100,000-300,000 Hutus were killed triggered a slaughter of Tutsis in 197273 in Rwanda. In order to restore peace, the Rwandan military took over the government in 1973.
Unlike Rwanda, independence in Burundi did not lead to a transition of power from the Tutsis to
the Hutus. The Tutsi elites in Burundi managed to maintain power through force, and this
circumstance was a constant factor in shaping Rwandan politics over the past four decades.
Burundi was seen as a threatening example of what might happen in Rwanda if the Hutu elites
allowed the Tutsis to gain power. The July 1973 coup in Rwanda brought Major General Juvenal
Habyarimana to power. From this time until the end of the genocide in 1994, the government was
dominated by Northern Hutus, particularly from the Gisenyi region. The main political actors,
known as the akazu ("household") were Habyarimana, his wife Agathe and her brothers, and a
handful of trusted advisors. Over time, not only did Habyarimana's closed style of rule alienate
the Tutsis, it also alienated Hutu elites from other regions.
During the mid-late 1980s, two factors contributed to the weakening of the Habyarimana regime.
First, the economy began to decline due to a deterioration in terms of trade and a decrease in
external economic aid. Second, external forces began to press African regimes in general for
greater openness and increased political participation for the population. On top of these
pressures, Habyarimana was threatened by an invasion of Tutsi rebels from neighboring Uganda
in 1990.
Mr. McClung’s Social 10-1
Masses of Tutsis fled Rwanda after the 1959 Hutu revolution and the 1973 massacres, and they
were discouraged from returning home by the Habyarimana regime. A new generation of
Rwandans, some of mixed Rwandan and other parentage, grew up in neighboring Uganda,
Tanzania, Burundi and Congo. Many of the exiled Rwandans in Uganda were instrumental in the
fight against the dictatorships of Idi Amin and Milton Obote during the 1970s and 1980s. Some
Tutsi soldiers, like current Rwandan President Paul Kagame, came to be highly ranked within the
Ugandan military after Yoweri Museveni took power in 1986. After some years in favor in the
Ugandan military, Rwandan Tutsi soldiers began to be resented by their Ugandan counterparts.
In addition, the economy of Uganda was faltering, so Ugandans were growing discontented with
the large Rwandan population living there. These factors, combined with the repressive rule of
the Habyarimana regime contributed to the establishment of the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) in
1987 and its invasion of Rwanda in October 1990. The initial invasion by the RPF was repulsed
by the Rwandan army (Armed Forces of Rwanda, FAR) with assistance from troops from Zaire
and monetary assistance from France and Belgium. Over the course of the following two years,
the RPF was able to continue launching invasions into Rwanda. The insurgency was serious
enough for the Habyarimana government to eventually agree to peace talks with the rebels.
Between August 1993 and January 1994, the government and RPF agreed to two power-sharing
arrangements. The RPF was to gain a certain number of cabinet positions within the government
and integrate its soldiers into FAR. Extremist Hutus within the government of Rwanda were
vehemently opposed to any power-sharing arrangement with the RPF, and clashes broke out
between different factions of the government.
Genocide
In April 1994, the plane carrying President Habyarimana and Burundian President Ntaryamira
was shot down over Kigali. Most analysts blame Rwandan Hutu extremists for the assassination
of the presidents. What is clear is that the assassination of the presidents was the signal to Hutus
extremists (Interahamwe or "those who fight together") to begin their genocidal campaign against
the Tutsis and moderate Hutus of Rwanda. In just 100 days, between 500,000-800,000
Rwandans were killed. The genocide was highly organized by a core group of Hutu extremists
who spread their message of hate and vengeance via leaflets, the radio, and word of mouth.
Neighbors were exhorted to kill neighbors, husbands to kill their in-laws, children to kill their
teachers or vice versa. Some people were forced to kill or be killed by the leaders of the
genocide, while others adopted the Hutu power ideology as their own and believed they must kill
in order to survive. Most people were killed using simple tools such as machetes, though there
were also incidents of grenades being launched into churches harboring people or people
sheltering in schools being burned alive. No community was left untouched by the genocide. Up
to 80% of the Rwandan Tutsis living in the country at the time were wiped out. Untold numbers of
Hutus were also killed.
The international community was reluctant to stop the Rwandan genocide through military
intervention. At the time of the Arusha accords in August 1993, the UN had agreed to send a
number of troops to Rwanda in order to oversee the implementation of the peace agreement.
Twenty-five hundred UN troops were deployed in November 1993 with a mandate that did not
include peace-making or the ability to intervene to stop attacks by either side in the conflict.
Hence, the force was ineffective when the genocide was launched in April 1994. Western
countries pulled their citizens out of the country but did nothing to stop the slaughter of
Rwandans. The U.S. government was reluctant to call the massacre genocide because by law it
would have been required to intervene, and it was reluctant to do so after the failed intervention in
Somalia just six months before in which 17 U.S. soldiers were killed and 75 injured. The French
and Belgians had long been supportive of the Habyarimana regime, and did nothing to stop the
genocide once it began. The U.N. did not give its peace-keepers in Rwanda an expanded
mandate after the killings began even though U.N. leaders knew ahead of time that the genocide
had been planned. The failure of the international community has since been acknowledged by
nearly every government and international organization that failed to act.
Mr. McClung’s Social 10-1
The genocide was halted in July 1994 by the RPF. They captured a number of the leaders of the
genocide, but many also fled to neighboring Zaire. In addition, approximately two million Hutus
also fled Rwanda after the RPF put a halt to the killing. Many feared revenge attacks by the RPF,
and many others had actually taken part in the genocide. The refugee flow to Zaire (now the
Democratic Republic of Congo) soon became a humanitarian emergency and the international
community responded with aid and assistance. The refugees remained in Zaire, many against
their will threatened by Hutu militias, until late 1996. Between mid-1994 and late-1996, the Hutu
extremists who had fled Rwanda continued to launch invasions into the country, especially in the
northwest, from the relative safety of the refugee camps. In September 1996, a rebellion was
launched in eastern Zaire after the local governor ordered Congolese Tutsis out of the country. It
was only after this rebellion began that the Rwandan refugees began to return home, largely
because Rwandan forces began attacking the refugee camps looking for Rwandan Interahamwe
and ex-FAR. For the most part, the refugees who returned to Rwanda were not subject to
revenge attacks by the Rwandan government, though countless thousands were killed in the
fighting in eastern Zaire.
The insurgency within Rwanda was quashed by the end of 1998, and the country has not
experienced open conflict since that time. Unfortunately, the threat of ethnic conflict in Rwanda
remains strong. First, extremist Hutus continue to promote an ideology of hatred. They are mainly
based in eastern Congo where they are currently being supported by the Congolese government.
Rwanda and Uganda both have troops in eastern Congo for security reasons. They are unlikely
to pull out until the Congolese government stops supporting rebel groups who want to topple their
respective governments. Congo, for its part, is supported by Angola and Zimbabwe. Angola has
legitimate security reasons for its participation in the Congo civil war while Zimbabwe has
received economic benefits from allying itself with the government. The conflict is unlikely to be
resolved soon, though the assassination of Laurent Kabila in January 2001 might help the peace
process along. Kabila was largely responsible for blocking the Congo peace process.
In early 2001, Rwanda remains relatively peaceful, and the government has instituted a number
of measures to ensure peace and stability within its borders. Though the government is unlikely to
allow popular participation in general elections, it is trying to promote unity and reconciliation
within its borders. One of its greatest challenges is bringing to justice more than 120,000
genocide suspects who are currently in Rwandan jails. Those accused of masterminding the
genocide are being tried under the established justice system. However, the established
institutions do not have the capacity to handle the entire caseload of suspects, so the government
has adopted laws to create gacaca or community courts. These courts are based on a traditional
system of justice that allows the local communities to determine the guilt or innocence of persons
accused of crimes. The process of trying the genocide suspects in these community-based courts
had not yet begun in early 2001. The trial of genocide suspects will likely put great pressure on
Rwanda's civil society, and whether justice, as perceived by both sides in the conflict, is carried
out will largely determine the stability and reconciliation of the country.
In April 2004 the Rwandan government literally outlawed ethnicity, claiming that ethnic tensions
could only be ameliorated by erasing the very categorization that marks the Hutu and the Tutsi as
different. The government, which is currently dominated by the minority Tutsi, has wiped out the
distinctions by decree, employing re-education camps to instruct its citizens on the new "noethnicity" policy. Discussions of ethnicity have been removed from school textbooks and
government identification cards. Rwanda's government-controlled radio, television and
newspapers similarly avoid ethnic terminology. The new crime of "divisionism"-which can include
provocative speech about ethnicity-is punishable by law and can land offenders in jail. Unlike
Burundi, which has suffered similar violence and has nearly the same ethnic makeup, Rwanda
has chosen to eradicate ethnicity rather than create a forum for dialogue in which its painful
history might be healed.
Anne Pitsch