Pre-discussion Questions: Ghosts of Rwanda
http://www.berkeley.edu/news/students/2003/rwanda/images/map_rwanda.gif
When and why was the U.N. founded?
Tutsis:
Hutus:
Define Genocide:
Terms to know:
Rwandan Armed Forces (FAR): Army of the Hutu government led by President Habyarimana. After the
president's plane was shot down, the FAR joined the Presidential Guard and the interahamwe in carrying out the
genocide.
Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF): Tutsi-led rebels who fought the Hutu leadership during the Rwandan civil war.
While the international community refused to intervene and 800,000 Tutsis were killed, the RPF was finally
successful in putting down the Hutu extremists and ending the genocide.
During the video: Create a Journal Timeline. Record each date mentioned and what occurred
on each date. Use complete sentences!!
Post Viewing Questions (please wait until after video!!):
Who was to blame for the genocide?
Who was to blame for not intervening in the genocide?
How will the UN and the world respond if there is another genocide?
Think about the symbol of the rock in this world situation as well as when we saw Promises
about the conflict in Israel. What is the power and symbol of the rock?
Extra Credit: Look on reliable cites for today’s newspapers (ex- NY Times, Christian Science
Monitor..etc) about civil unrest/genocides in Africa today. Look particularly about articles on
Nigeria, Congo and Sudan. Due Friday 3/14 Print article and write summary about it. You
might be asked to talk about it in class, so please have a clear understanding of what is going
on.
Teacher’s Guide:
Tutsi: Hundreds of years ago, emigrated from Ethiopia. Originally the ones that the Belgiums thought
were the superior race in Rwanda- given governmental power. Also said that Tutsi’s were more
European looking- by noses and height.
In power until the 1960’s when the Hutu’s took over.
Genocide: The deliberate and systematic extermination of a national, racial, political, or cultural
group.
Hutu: The majority community in Rwanda, which during the colonial period had suffered as secondclass citizens. With independence, Hutu gained power and privilege through the patronage of
presidents Gregoire Kayibanda and Maj. Gen. Juvenal Habyarimana.
Tutsi: Rwanda's largest minority community, which Belgian colonials had favored as the privileged
class until Hutu revolutionaries took over political leadership in the early 1960s.
TIMELINE
1948
United Nations General Assembly unanimously passes the Genocide Convention, which obligates signatory states to
prevent and punish perpetrators of genocide.
1959-1962
Revolution brings about a reversal of power in Rwanda: The Hutu majority seizes power from the Tutsi minority,
which had been the favored class under Belgium colonial rule for more than a century.
1990
Army of the Tutsi-led rebel Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) invades Rwanda and a three-year civil war ensues.
1993
August Rwandan government and the RPF negotiate a cease-fire and the Arusha Accords are signed.
October 3 Special Forces in Somalia are engaged in a 17-hour battle with the ruling warlord. Eighteen U.S.
soldiers are killed and 84 wounded, with more than 1,000 Somalis killed. U.S. and other nations'
troops quickly withdrew from the U.N. mission.
October 5 Security Council authorizes Rwanda mission (UNAMIR) to assist parties in implementing the Arusha
Peace Accords.
November UNAMIR forces begin to arrive in Rwanda; the first phase of deployment ends in mid-December with
a total of about 2,500 troops.
1994
January 5 Hutu militias disrupt the ceremony to install a broad-based transitional government.
January UNAMIR leader Gen. Dallaire sends urgent cable to U.N. outlining Hutu plans to exterminate Tutsis
11 and his own plan to confiscate Hutu militia arm caches. He is told to desist -- as this would exceed
his peacekeeping mandate -- and to discuss the issue with the Rwandan and foreign governments.
February Series of massacres and political assassinations occur in the capital of Kigali and in Southern
Rwanda, targeting Tutsis and Hutu members of opposition parties. Hutu extremists step up efforts to
prepare death lists, import tens of thousands of machetes, and issue anti-Tutsi propaganda.
April 6 Rwandan President Habyarimana and the Burundian President Ntaryamira are killed when
Habyarimana's plane is shot down near Kigali Airport. The killings begin that night.
April 7 Extremist Hutu forces set up roadblocks and go from house to house killing Tutsis and moderate
Hutu politicians. Ten Belgian soldiers with UNAMIR, assigned to guard the moderate Hutu prime
minister, are tortured and murdered. The prime minister is also murdered.
April 8 Tutsi-led Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) forces launch a major offensive to overthrow the interim
government, reigniting the civil war.
April 9-10 France, Belgium and Italy send troops to evacuate their citizens. Americans leave Rwanda by convoy
to Burundi, where U.S. Marines wait. A handful of Rwandans escape with the Westerners.
April 14 One week after the murder of the 10 Belgian soldiers, Belgium begins to withdraw forces from
UNAMIR and urges the U.S. to support pulling out the rest of the peacekeepers.
April 21 The U.N. Security Council votes unanimously to withdraw most of the UNAMIR troops, cutting the
force from 2,500 to 270.
May 17 The U.N. finally agrees to send 5,500 troops to Rwanda; however full deployment will not be
complete until September--long after the genocide is over.
Mid-May The International Committee of the Red Cross estimates 500,000 Rwandans have been killed.
Mid-July Tutsi-led RPF forces capture Kigali. The Hutu government flees to Zaire, followed by a tide of
refugees. The RPF sets up an interim government of national unity in Kigali. The genocide is over. An
estimated 800,000 Rwandans have been killed in 100 days.
November Recognizing that serious violations of humanitarian law were committed in Rwanda, the Security
8 Council creates the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR).
2002
April 2 Colonel Theoneste Bagosora and three other alleged architects of the genocide go on trial at the
ICTR; as of February 2004, their trial is still underway.
Post ViewingAfter genocide in Rowanda- said that 77% of Tutsi population was killed
Post Viewing Questions (please wait until after video!!):
Who was to blame for the genocide?
Who was to blame for not intervening in the genocide?
How will the UN and the world respond if there is another genocide?
Think about the symbol of the rock in this world situation as well as when we saw Promises about the
conflict in Israel. What is the power and symbol of the rock?
Extra Credit: Look on reliable cites for today’s newspapers (ex- NY Times, Christian Science
Monitor..etc) about civil unrest/genocides in Africa today. Look particularly about articles on Nigeria
and Sudan. Due Wednesday 3/14 Print article and write summary about it. You might be asked to talk
about it in class, so please have a clear understanding of what is going on.