Rwandan
Genocide
By: Olga Lara
Sandy Sam
Anna Sahakyan
Rwandan Flag
New Flag
.
The New Flag of Rwanda was effective since
January of 2002. Unlike the old flag, it lacks
the colors red and black which represented
the blood split and the mourning of the
Rwandan people. This new flag contains more
hope and optimism and symbolizes the
strength of the Rwandan people who, after the
bloody genocide which took more than
800,000 lives, are able to be strong and
united and see the sun shining with its golden
Old flag
Politicians
President Juvenal Habyarimana
President Habyarimara, a Hutu,
widened the divisions among
Hutus and Tutsi by attacks and
propaganda.
On April 6, 1994, the plane
crrying president Habyarimana
was shot down in Kigali. The
very next day, after the
president’s death, the Rwandan
Genocide began.
Colonel Théoneste Bagosora
After the president’s death, colonel
Bagosora took charge of the
Presidential Guard and other troops
and murdered Hutu government
officials of the political opposition.
Also, they began systematically
slaughtering the Tutsi.
Ferdinand Nahimana
Founder and the director of the hate
radio Télévision Libre des Mille Collines
(RTLM). Ferdinand used this hate radio
in order to spread hared, as well as
organize the genocide of the Tutsi by the
Hutu people. He referred to Tutsis as
cockroaches and, although his hatred of
the Tutsi was quiet obvious in his
speeches, he sometimes used phrases
that had hidden meanings. Such one
phrase was “cut the tall trees”, which was
a sign for the Hutus to start the slaughter
of the Tutsi.
Jerry Robert Kajuga

Picture Not Available

Jerry Robert Kajuga was the President of the
Interahamwe militia, which was responsible for
committing the Rwanda Genocide. Ironically, Jerry
Robert Kajuga, and his family, was Tutsi, but they
pretended to be Hutu. In order to avoid any kind
of suspicion about their family being Tutsi, Robert
Kajuga kept his brother hidden at the Hotel des
Mille Collines in Kigali.
Roméo Alain Dallaire

Romeo Alain Dallaire, a Canadian
General who was in Rwanda during
the Rwandan genocide as general of
the UN peacekeeping group, tried
to help the Tutsi and the Hutu who
were being slaughtered, but did not
receive any help from the UN. Later
in his life he suffered post
traumatic stress syndrome. The fact
that his alarm was ignored and that
the United Nations failed to prevent
the killing of the 800,000 innocent
people haunts General Dallaire to
this day. He was told that he was a
peacekeeper, not a peacemaker,
which was the UN’s way for
justifying their neutrality.
Prudence Bushnell

Prudence Bushnell, United
States Associate Secretary of
State for African Affairs, was
shocked by the news she was
getting from Rwanda. At a State
Department press conference
on April 8, she spoke about the
violence in Rwanda, however, at
that time Bushnell, and all the
Americans, did not call it a
genocide, only “violence” or a
“civil war”.
Newspaper Headlines
Kangura Newspaper
October, 1993 (n. 51, p. 14)
The man in the uniform is
Paul Kagame, who was the leader
of the Rwandan Patriotic Front
(RPF). The man in the left is
supposed to be the President
Juvenal Habyarimana. The
sentence on the left says, "They say
that Kagame would refuse to shake
the hand of a Hutu." Kagame says,
"Let it be known that I cannot
shake a Hutus hand." The sign
"Kinihira" signifies a neutral
"buffer zone" in Rwanda, which
was settled between the RPF and
Habyarimana at the Arusha Peace
Accords in the summer of 1993.
New York Times
U.N. in Rwanda Says It Is
Powerless to Halt the Violence
April 15, 1994, Friday
By DONATELLA LORCH, (Special to The New York Times); Foreign Desk
http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F40815FB355A0C768DDDAD0894
DC494D81
New York Times
U.N. Commission Recommends Rwanda
'Genocide' Tribunal
September 29, 1994, Thursday
By RAYMOND BONNER, (Special to The New York Times);
Foreign Desk
http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F40F10F63
A5E0C7A8EDDA00894DC494D81
Los Angeles Times
Bloodshed
Rwanda
Continues in
April 16, 1994
U.N.
Airlifts Aid Supplies to
Terrorized Rwandans
April 17, 1994
Quotes From Survivors

“When I came out, there were no birds… there
was sunshine and the stench of death”.

“I couldn’t believe that the international
communities would sit and watch us being
slaughtered”.
*Both of these persons survived by hiding under
dead bodies.
Qutoes from General Romeo Dallaire

"The genocide was
brutal, criminal and
disgusting and continued
for 100 days under the
eyes of the international
community."

"I don't think there's any
justification for what
happened, it was a
shameful episode for
collective shame."
Map of Rwanda
Geographic Map of Rwanda
Rwandan Food
Rwandan food is mainly simple
food made of the locally grown
vegetations such as sweet potatoes,
beans, corn, peas, millet and fruit.
Rwandans are famous for adding
lots of sugar and milk to their tea,
and tea is mostly common in urban
areas, such as Kigali, for breakfast.
Rwandans living rural areas don’t
eat meet frequently because their

Tropical fruits such as avocados,
bananas, mangos and papaya are
abundant in Rwanda.

Rwandans brew their own alcohol,
although men are the only ones who
drink alcoholic beverages.
cattle is their fortune.
Languages Spoken
 Kinyarwanda
(native language spoken by
most Rwandans)
 French
 English
Rwandan Writing
Reporters and Photjournalsts
Covering The Rwandan Genocide
Fergal Keane

Fergal Keane, an Irish
reporter and a writer who
was the BBC special
correspondent in Africa
in the early 1990s,
reported on the Genocide
in Rwanda.
Philip Gourevitch

Philip Gourevitch, and
American author and
journalist, is the author of the
book We Wish to Inform You
That tomorrow We Will Be Killed
With our Families, which is
about the Rwandan Genocide.
The movie Hotel Rwanda is
loosely based on this book.
Starting from 1995, Gourevitch
took frequent trips to Rwanda
in order to write about the
Genocide’s affects and inform
the world about the atrocities
that had taken place.
"People talked
about the situation
being confusing,
anarchy, and
Rwanda being
a failed state.
Corinne Dufka
Photos by
Corinne
Dufka
A photojournalist and a humanitarian,
who for years has been working
in Africa, mostly covering war zones.
In 1994, when the Rwandan
Genocide took place, she was one of
the few photojournalists who went to
Rwanda to report on Rwandan
Genocide.
Rwanda was anything
but a failed state
because the killing
was so well
choreographed and
highly organized“,
wrote Corinne Dufka
The Role of the U.N.
The role of the U.N. in the Rwanda genocide was very
neutral. Before and during the genocide, the United
Nations only had 2,500 peacekeeping troops in
Rwanda. A person named Masozera said, “ U.N.
soldiers were here and left when the killings were
happening,” the U.N troops really didn’t do anything to
prevent the genocide from occurring or even stop
afterwards. They were peacekeeper not peacemakers
and their lack of action caused the death of many
innocent Tutsis and Hutus.
The Members of the U.N. That Had
a Direct Role/Connection

Kofi Annan
Secretary-General of the
United Nations.

Roméo Alain Dallaire
Lieutenant-General,
Force commander of UNAMIR
(United Nations Assistance Mission
for Rwanda)
The International Response
All the nations collectively failed to do anything
about the Rwandan Genocide and remained
silent while innocent Rwandans were being
slaughtered. The Unites States did not even refer
to it as a Genocide, but rather as “genocidal acts”
or “killings”. Lack of political agreement,
motivation, interest and economic profit in
Rwanda were responsible for the international
communities failure. As Romeo Dallaire said,
Rwanda was a mission of “a lost priority” for the
international community.
Summary
“The Rwanda genocide was a massacre of an estimated
800,000 to 1,071,000 ethnic Tutsi and Hutus in Rwanda.
The two ethnic groups are very similar because they
speak the same language, inhabit the same areas and
follow the same traditions. But when Belgians colonist
arrived in 1916, they saw the two groups as distinct
entitles. The Tutsi were considered more superior than the
Hutus, they had better jobs and greater educational
opportunities. Once the Belgians gave Rwanda its
independence the Hutus seized power and started
committing acts of crime and violence against the Tutsi.
The genocide started with the death of the Rwanda
president Juvenal Habyarimana was killed when his plane
was shot down above Kigali airport on April 6, 1994….
…Throughout the massacre, both the U.N and the U.S
had soldiers to establish control within the city, seeing the
situation kept getting worst they decided to abandon
Rwanda and remove its troops only leaving twohundred. The Hutu, now without opposition from the
world community, engaged in genocidal mania killing
Tutsi families with machetes. The Rwandan state radio,
controlled by Hutu extremists, further encouraged the
killings by broadcasting non-stop hate propaganda and
even pinpointed the locations of Tutsis in hiding. Hutus
who opposed the Hutu Power ideology were publicly
dneounced as “accomplices” of the Tutsi and were among
the first ones to be killed. Finally, in July, the RPF
captured Kigali. The government collapsed and the RPF
declared a ceasefire. In exactly 100 days the genocide was
over and a new multi-ethnic government was formed
promising all refugees from Rwanda a safe return”.
Historical Emblem Symbolizing the Rwandan
Genocide
The golden sun represents the sun
found on the new Rwandan flag.
However, the tips of the rays are
red, symbolizing the blood shed
during the Rwandan genocide.
Moreover, the center of the sun is
red as well for the same reason
mentioned above because the
scars of the genocide remain deep
down in every Rwandan’s heart.
The pin in the middle, which has
been created in honor of Rwandan
people and in order to support
them, bears the colors of hope
(blue sky and peaceful green). In
the middle of the pin the gold
zigzag pattern signifies the wings
of a popular Rwandan bird known
as agasake.
Works Cited
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"Country Profile: Rwanda." BBC News. 12 Oct. 2006. 02 Nov. 2006
<http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/country_profiles/1070265.stm#leaders>.
"Eating the Rwandan Way." Rwanda - Eating the Rwandan Way. 02 Nov. 2006
<http://www.cp-pc.ca/english/rwanda/eating.html>.
Gourevitch, Philip. "The Triump of Evil." Front Line. 02 Nov. 2006
<http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/evil/interviews/gourevitch.html
>.
Gourevitch, Phillip. “Stories from Rwanda.” 1998
<http://www.historyplace.com/pointsofview/rwanda.htm>
"Interview Prudence Bushnell." Front Line. 01 Apr. 2004. 01 Nov. 2006
<http://www.pbs.org/wgbh//pages/frontline////shows/ghosts/interviews/bushnell
.html>.
"Leave None to Tell the Story: Rwanda Genocide." Human Rights Watch. Mar. 1999.
03 Nov. 2006 <http://129.194.252.80/catfiles/1317.pdf>.
"West 'Guilty' Over Rwanda Genocide." CNN. 06 Apr. 2004. 03 Nov. 2006
<http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/africa/04/06/rwanda.dallaire/index.html>.