Rwandan Genocide
Genocide
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Genocide is the mass killing of a group of people as
defined by Article 2 of the Convention on the Prevention
and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (CPPCG) as
"any of the following acts committed with intent to
destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or
religious group, as such: killing members of the group;
causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the
group; deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of
life, calculated to bring about its physical destruction in
whole or in part; imposing measures intended to prevent
births within the group; and forcibly transferring children
of the group to another group."
RWANDA
Country Background
Rwanda is one of the smallest countries in
Central Africa.
 A former colony of Belgium.
 Population of 7 million people
 There are two main ethnic groups, the Hutu
and the Tutsi.
 The Hutus made up 90% of the population,
but the Tutsis were the wealthy.
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 Tutsis
dominated Hutu peasants for decades,
especially while under Belgian control
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The Hutu majority seized power and the oppressing
of the Tutsis through discrimination and violence
began.
Over 200,000 Tutsis fled to neighboring countries
and formed a rebel guerrilla army, the Rwandan
Patriotic Front (RPF).
In 1990, this rebel army invaded Rwanda and forced
Hutu President into sharing power between Hutus
and Tutsis.
Ethnic tensions in Rwanda heightened in October
1993 upon the assassination of the first elected
Hutu president of neighboring Burundi.
A United Nations peacekeeping force of 2,500 was
then dispatched to Rwanda to preserve a cease-fire
between the Hutu government and theTutsis
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In April 1994, while returning from a meeting in
Tanzania, a small jet carrying two Hutu presidents
was shot down as it approached Rwanda's airport at
Kigali.
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Immediately, Rwanda plunged into violence as Hutu
extremists began targeting people that were on
their death-lists, including moderate Hutu politicians
and Tutsi leaders.
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A small UN force of 2500 peacekeepers was
overwhelmed trying to maintain order.
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The killings then spread throughout the countryside
as Hutu militia, armed with machetes, clubs, guns
and grenades, began indiscriminately killing Tutsi
civilians.
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All individuals in Rwanda carried identification cards
specifying their ethnic background. (A practice left over
from colonial days.)
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These 'tribal cards' now meant the difference
between life and death.
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While the massacre was occurring, both the U.N.
and the U.S. denied calling the killings as genocide.
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This would have necessitated some kind of emergency
intervention.
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Among the peacekeepers were ten soldiers from
Belgium who were captured by the Hutus, tortured
and murdered.
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The United States, France, Belgium, and Italy all
began evacuating their own personnel from
Rwanda.
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On April 21, the Red Cross estimated that hundreds
of thousands of Tutsi had already been massacred
since April 6.
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On April 21, the Red Cross estimated that
hundreds of thousands of Tutsi had already
been massacred since April 6 - an extraordinary
rate of killing.
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Hutus were often given incentives, such as money or
food, and some were even told they could appropriate
the land of the Tutsis they killed.
Hospitals also became prime targets as wounded
survivors were sought out then killed.
In some local villages, militiamen forced Hutus to
kill their Tutsi neighbors or face a death
sentence for themselves and their entire
families. They also forced Tutsis to kill members
of their own families.
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Facing TV news reports depicting genocide, the
U.N. Security Council voted to send up to 5,000
soldiers to Rwanda.
However, the Security Council never sent the
troops in time to stop the massacre.
The killings only ended after armed Tutsi rebels,
invading from neighboring countries, managed
to defeat the Hutus in July 1994.
By then, over one-tenth of the population, an
estimated 800,000 persons, had been killed.
Key Players
Colonel Bagosora
mastermind of Rwanda's 1994 genocide
General Romeo Dallaire
Canadian General in charge of UN troops in Rwanda.
Terror in Rwanda CBC ARCHIVES
Peacekeeper to the World CBC ARCHIVES
UN War Crimes Tribunal
The Tribunal is ongoing in Arusha, United
Republic of Tanzania.
 The UN budgeted US $269,758,400 for
costs of the tribunal.
 All responsible for the genocide are
presently being tried, have been tried or
are waiting to be.
UN War Crimes Tribunal
TRIBUNAL Video CBC
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Key points to write down
Rwanda is a Central African Country.
 Former Belgian Colony
 1994 Genocide began
 Over a period of 100 days 800,000+ Tutsi
and moderate Hutus were slaughtered.
 There was a small UN peacekeeping force
there with Canadian General Romeo
Dallaire in charge.
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The Hutu Militia were responsible for the
killings.
 The killings were organized by Colonel
Bagosora.
 10 Belgian peacekeepers were captured
and killed by the Hutu militia.
 The UN and the US both refused to call
this a genocide therefore a significant
force was not sent in.
 The UN finally sent in 5000 troops but only
after the killings were over.
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