The Rwanda Genocide : The History
Genocide is simply the systematic killing of people basing on their race,culture and political affiliation.In Rwanda this happened in 1994 where 1.174.000 as stated by the Government of Rwanda mainly of Hutu and Tutsi origin were brutally killed basing on their ethnicity.The origin of the bitterness between these two tribes can be traced back to the 19th century prior to the occupation of Rwanda by the German and Belgian Imperialists.
The Hutu are mainly agriculturalists by occupation,Tutsi pastoralists and the minority Twa hunter-gatherers and porters respectively.Their tribal occupations created a rift between them with the Tutsi patronizing the other 2 tribes labeling them impure because their occupations were directly involved with the earth i.e agriculture and pottery;with the Tutsi considering themselves superior because their occupation was above the earth.
The arrival of the European colonialsits further drifted the Rwandese tribes because they favoured the Tutsi considering them a higher people basing on their infamous Hamitic hypothesis where the Tutsi were considered closer to the caucasian race.They went on to introduce identity cards where the ethnicity of the nationals was sublime and had to be recorded on them.However,towards the end of colonial rule,the Belgians handed majority rule to the Hutu’s fearing the spread of communism and Pan-Africanism from the Congo to Rwanda and specifically the Hutu.This was viewed as an opportunity of revenge on the Tutsi by the Hutu.
Proceeding post colonial rule by the Hutu governments of Gregoire Kayibanda, Juvenal Habyarimana were enormously characterized with mass killings of the Tutsi which led to a massive exodus of about 150.000 Tutsi to neighbouring countries, most notably Uganda in the 1959 Rwanda revolution.This led to vindictive Tutsi attacks on the then Hutu government in the 1990’s which even spread out to neighbouring Burundi in 1972 where Tutsi armies targeted the Hutu thus retaliation of the Hutu in 1994.
Other factors that led to this genocide were the media both in Rwanda and the diaspora.The Hutu sent hate speeches targeting the Tutsi in local newspapers and radios(since most Rwandese were illiterate)and this went uncritised,not even by the international press.Religion and apathy on the side of the United Nations are other factors not to be ignored.
These abhorrent killings were mainly carried out by militias in the Interahamwe and Impuzamugambi militias which were well organized in ratios of 1 militia member for 10 Tutsi households.
However,the stroke that broke the camel’s back and catalyzed the genocide was the gunning down of the then president of Rwanda’s jet Juvenal Habyarimana and Cyprien Ntaryamira of Burundi as it prepared to land in Kigali.
The mass killings were generally carried out by militias i.e interahamwe and Impuzamugambi who set out to kill all the Tutsi irrespective of their age and sex and political moderates who were looked at as threats to the cause.Civilians were also forced to participate in the killings and were instructed to kill their neighbours,failure to do so ended in their deaths too.
In realisation of the escalating violence,most nations evacuated their nationals from Kigali in the intial stages of the violence leaving their embassies empty.National radios aware of the situation,advised people to stay indoors save for the Hutu power station RTLM which continued broadcasting and spreading hate propaganda against the Tutsi.This tension led to the setting up of hundreds of road blocks around the country which hindered the efforts by high ranking UN generals from stopping attacks on the Tutsi.They were instead targeted like Lt.Gen Dallaire who sent cable messages to Newyork notifying his superiors that the killings were organized,widespread and were based on ethnicity.
These cable messages led to a massive evacuation of UN observers even after they witnessed abhorrent killings of children at a Ploish church in Gikondo and also killings of their relief colleagues right in front of them.These killings spread throughout the country and were master-minded by key politicians like the mayor of Gisenyi town,a town which acted as a habitat to thousands of refugees displaced by rebels in the south and was primarily a Tutsi settlement area.The mayor of Gisenyi town fueled the genocide in his area by organizing a series of meetings to distribute arms and send out militia to kill.
On the contrary,the genocide had not yet spread to some parts of Rwanda like Butare ; however on realizing this,the government flew militia by helicopter there and the killings immediately began.Most victims were killed in their towns and respective villages by their neighbors who were forced to kill or be killed themselves.Victims were mostly impaled with machetes to death and seldom rifles used.People sought refuge in churches,schools but were eventually smoked out,case instance is Nyarubuye where 1.500 people who had sought refuge in a local catholic church were shot dead and hacked to death after the church they were hiding in was bull-dozed.Also,in a similar incident was reported in the Ecole Technique Officielle School in Kigali which was attacked immediately after the Belgian soldiers who were stationed there left.In addition to the killings,war rape was very rampant and 400.000 orphans,85.000 of whom have consequencially been forced to become heads of families together with the large number of women with AIDS is the result.
In a nutshell,in a population of 7.5 million people,where 84% were Hutu,15%Tutsi and 1% Twa; 1.174.000 were massacred as reported by the Government Of Rwanda in a period of a 100 days only i.e people in the massacre died at a rate of 10.000 people a day,400 people per hour and 7 people a minute.Among those identified to have participated in the genocide are:prominent politicians,high ranking military officers,priests and nuns and numerous natives.
In retrospect,a couple of people fought to impede the genocide,most notably:Pierantonio Costa, Antonia Locatelli, Jacqueline Munkasonera,Carl Wilkins an d Paul Rusesabagina.This abhorrent event has been captured in motion film blockbusters:100 days,Sometimes In April and the award winning Hotel Rwanda.
However it must be noted that Rwanda has managed to beat the odds to move past her past and achieve peace,stability and development.A truth and reconciliation process has been on-going where tribunal courts locally known as gacaca were established to dig out the truth,press for confessions and fashion reconciliation.It must be seriously noted that in Rwanda there is no more Tutsi,Hutu or Twabut RWANDESE and it is very despicable to label a national by their ethnicity in the NEW RWANDA.
It is vital to note that in the first week of every April,a genocide week is observed all over Rwanda.
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