Rwanda, 1994 genocide, history of rwanda, colonization of rwanda. One percent of the population are twa from pigmy hunters. Introduction this paper aims to discuss and examine the causes of the 1994 rwandan genocide. Lasting 100 days, the rwandan genocide left approximately 800,000 tutsis and hutu sympathizers dead.
Food production had diminished because of drought and the disruptions of war. Our materials are also preserved and accessible at our physical archive which is located at the kigali genocide memorial. In the beginning of the 1990s, rwandas economic, political and social pressures were increasing. Even though the shooting of the president was a main aspect to the starting of the genocide, before that the tutsis and the hutu had many conflicts. The term was derived from the greek genos race, tribe, or nation and the latin cide killing. Consequently, hutu extremists of the political elite accused the entire tutsi minority population. The genocide archive of rwanda collections contain text based documents related to the 1994 genocide against the tutsi in rwanda. The population in the year 1994 was approximately seven million people. Both have also experienced regular, extreme massive violence.
In addition, rwanda was one of the poorest nations in the world and growing poorer, with too little land for its many people and falling prices for its products on the world market. To really understand the rwandan genocide and the final solution, one must understand the background of the two exterminated peoples. The economy is based on the largely rainfed agricultural production of small, semisubsistence, and increas. Members of the hutu tribe slaughtered between 800,000 to one million of their tutsi neighbors, people with whom they had lived for decades, sharing culture, language, religion, and their poverty. Eye witnesses to a human catastrophe a thesis submitted to the faculty of the school of continuing studies and of the graduate school of arts and sciences in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of master of arts in liberal studies. Abstract during 100 days in the spring and summer of 1994 in rwanda a planned genocide orchestrated by extreme members of the hutu ethnic group, the ruling faction. Learn more about the history of genocide in this article. Rwandas population was 85% hutu, 14% tutsi, and 1% twa a pygmy tribe. It is approximately 10,000 square miles with a temperate climate, and vast topography.
How rwanda is aiding women widowed by the countrys 1994. Churches were a major site for massacres, and many christians par tieipated in the slaughter, including church personnel and lay leaders. Historically, the tutsis had been the ruling class, which was enforced by belgian colonialism, so centuries of hutu hatred toward the. As the genocide was unprecedented in african annals, so is the panel. However, due to rwandas sizable humanitarian needs, it did have a us agency. Depuis lalerte lancee des 1993 signalant les premices dun genocide au.
A tribunal for rwanda from april through midjuly 1994, at least 500,000 civilians, mostly of the tutsi minority, were murdered with devastating brutality and speed while the international community looked on. On april 6, 1994, hutus began slaughtering the tutsis in the african country of rwanda. Genocide, the deliberate and systematic destruction of a group of people because of their ethnicity, nationality, religion, or race. The goal of the project is to collect and make available primary source materials from international and national agencies. During his reign he favored his own ethnic group which were the hutus.
The symposium examined in tandem the role of both the international media and rwandas domestic news organizations in the cataclysmic events of 1994. An international human rights law perspective brett hartley following the 1994 genocide, rwanda embarked on a nationbuilding program designed, inter alia, to create unity by resisting the attribution of minority or ethnic categories within rwanda. The radio spread the news of the plane crash, action took place immediately. As the brutal killings continued, the world stood idly by and just watched the slaughter. In an attempt by the hutu regime to annihilate each and every tutsi, between 500,000 to 800,000 or even 1,000,000 tutsis were killed at the hands of hutus. The tutsis are an ethnic group that resides in the african great. The role of the west in rwandas genocide, by linda melvern melvern gives a shocking portrait of calculated mass murder, revealing how the international community, and especially the u.
Rwanda died in the killings that took place over about three months in 1994. A brief history of the country rwandas population of more than 7 million people is divided into three ethnic groups. History of a genocide article pdf available in the international journal of african historical studies 311. Role of the international community in the rwandan. Not just a term, a reality in rwanda this document is to provide brief information on genocide, specifically the 1994 rwandan genocide, although a brief history of genocide acts starting from the 1959 revolution are included. Summary 5wanda is a small, mountainous, densely populated country in central africa whose history has been marked by ethnic violence. Read through these collections that include newspapers and articles, correspondences, reports and more. The rwandan genocide served as one of the moments which the world chos. The origin of the violence that transpired in rwanda during the latter half of the twentieth century is tied to the ways in which hutu and tutsi were treated differently by the colonial masters. Burundi and rwanda are small east african countries with almost identical economic, social, and political features.
President juvenal habyarimana was the president of rwanda from 1973 to 1994. On april 6, 1994 he was killed when his plane was shot down. Church politics and the genocide in rwanda by timothy longman vassar college abstract christian churches were deeply implicated in the 1994 genocide of ethnic tutsi in rwanda. Paul, minnesota as a result of his work as a defense attorney at the international criminal tribunal for rwanda. Rwanda is a small landlocked nation in the great lakes region in the heart of africa.
The international panel of eminent personalities to investigate the 1994 genocide in rwanda and the surrounding events was created by the organization of african unity. Le genocide des tutsi du rwanda france genocide tutsi. It has no coastline and is bordered by uganda, tanzania, burundi and the democratic republic of the congo. The genocide in rwanda, like all genocides, was a complex phenomenon that resulted from a combination of longterm structural factors as well as more. Its terrain is very hilly and the land is good for farming. Unlike many other postconflict african nations, rwanda is working to support aging women widowed by the countrys 1994 genocide. Genocide in rwanda, by alison liebhafsky des forges html at items below if any are from related and broader terms. The rwanda documents project was started by professor peter erlinder of william mitchell college of law in st. The death of president habyarimana ignited tension between the hutus and tutsis and it was the start of the genocide. In 1994, rwandas population of seven million was composed of three ethnic groups.
The genocide in rwanda was based on two groups, believed to be based on ethnicity, the hutu and the tutsi. Historical background rwanda rwanda is a small country in central africa. Explaining rwandas 1994 genocide university of denver. But, tension flared after the death of the president of rwanda when his plane was shot down. Yet the need for answers about rwanda surpasses the mere. Books on rwanda genocide if you want to learn more about the genocide in rwanda, these are the books to read. The rwandan genocide, also known as the genocide against the tutsi, was a mass slaughter of tutsi, twa, and moderate hutu in rwanda, which took place between 7 april and 15 july 1994 during the rwandan civil war in 1990, the rwandan patriotic front rpf, a rebel group composed of tutsi refugees, invaded northern rwanda from their base in uganda, initiating the rwandan civil war. The effect on their social and political roles lisa a. In 1994, the most blatant example of geoncide since world war ii was committed over 100 days before the eyes of the world. This ideologically driven genocide is a clear example of state sponsored massmurder. A summary of the rwandan genocide polytechnic school. Bruxelles, les editions aden, gilles martin, edition etablie par le mrax.
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