Rwandan Genocide

One of the genocides that has been in the 1900s is the genocide of Rwanda, a small, poor, central African country. The Rwandan genocide was the systematic extermination of over eight hundred thousand Tutsi, an ethnic group in Rwanda, by the Hutu, another ethnic group in Rwanda. In this essay I will tell you the history of the conflict of the Hutu and Tutsi, the 100 days of genocide in 1994, and what happened on the economy and the people of Rwanda.

First look at the history of the Hutu and the Tutsi. In the early 1900's, the Tutsi were placed in positions of power by Belgium, because they looked "whiter". Governed by Belgium's racist way of thought, ethnic identity cards were introduced. (www.globalpolicy.org) The Catholic Church supported the Tutsi and the new social order and educated the Tutsi and imposed their religion on them. Though the population of Rwanda was ninety percent Hutu, they were denied land ownership, education, and positions of power. In the 1950's, the end of the colonial period, the Hutu took over the Tutsi government. (BBC) The Hutu maintained the practices of ethnic division, and the Tutsi were forcibly removed from positions of power. Many Tutsi fled from Rwanda and were not allowed to return. Many Tutsi that stayed in Rwanda were killed. The Tutsi were good and the Hutu were evil bastards. Supported by Uganda, the Tutsi formed the Rwandan Patriotic Front, like an army. (PBC) The rebel army was anxious to regain citizenship and their homes in Rwanda, and began a civil war that lasted four years. The world wide coffee market crashed, and coffee being the main export of Rwanda, led to unemployment and hunger of many Rwandans. This, along with pressure from Belgium forced the Hutu to agree to share power with the Tutsi. (BBC) This was a lie, for the Hutu government was secretly planning revenge on the Tutsi. The revenge was the massacre of the Tutsi. With help from Hutu extremists, hate propaganda, sub-humanization of Tutsi, firearms, and machetes were distributed among the Hutu citizens. The extremists assassinated the president for fear of giving in to the Rwandan Patriotic Front's demands. (BBC)

The killing began on April 6, 1994. (PBC) Checkpoints were set up, covering the major routes and borders around Rwanda. These checkpoints consisted of Hutu military checking ethnic identity cards, if they were Hutu they lived, if they were Tutsi they were killed immediately. Many of the Tutsi gathered in churches, which were considered sacred, but they turned into slaughterhouses where many were massacred. (BBC) The killing lasted for one hundred days. More than eight hundred thousand people were massacred, one third of the Tutsi population being wiped out. During this time there was no outside help from the United States or any other country. The UNAMIR (United nations Assistance Mission in Rwanda) were given orders to stay on "stand by" and were not