The Rwandan Genocide
1994
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
Evolution of Titles
• Originally an ethnic distinction
• Everyone who wasn’t 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”)
• Hutu’s had “blunt nose”
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
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
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)
Habyarimana
– Tutsis were trying to take back the power in Rwanda
– Peace agreements were signed, but Habyarimana
(Hutu President) doesn’t cede power to any other
political party
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
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
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
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 weren’t killed themselves:
– Mayors
– Priests
– EVERYONE
Number Killed
• Unlike Nazis they didn’t 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
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
Questions Still Exist
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Why didn’t the US do anything?
Why didn’t the UN listen to Daillaire?
How could people kill their neighbors?
How many actually died?
How can we prevent this from happening
again?