Rwandan Genocide

1. Rwandan Genocide

2. Genocide • 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."

3. RWANDA

4. 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. • Tutsis dominated Hutu peasants for decades, especially while under Belgian control

5. 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

6. 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. • Immediately, Rwanda plunged into violence as Hutu extremists began targeting people that were on their death-lists, including moderate Hutu politicians and Tutsi leaders. • A small UN force of 2500 peacekeepers was overwhelmed trying to maintain order.

7. The killings then spread throughout the countryside as Hutu militia, armed with machetes, clubs, guns and grenades, began indiscriminately killing Tutsi civilians. • All individuals in Rwanda carried identification cards specifying their ethnic background. (A practice left over from colonial days.) • These 'tribal cards' now meant the difference between life and death.

8. While the massacre was occurring, both the U.N. and the U.S. denied calling the killings as genocide. • This would have necessitated some kind of emergency intervention. • Among the peacekeepers were ten soldiers from Belgium who were captured by the Hutus, tortured and murdered. • The United States, France, Belgium, and Italy all began evacuating their own personnel from Rwanda. • On April 21, the Red Cross estimated that hundreds of thousands of Tutsi had already been massacred since April 6.

9. 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. • 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.

10. 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.

11. Key Players Colonel Bagosora mastermind of Rwanda's 1994 genocide

12. General Romeo Dallaire Canadian General in charge of UN troops in Rwanda. Terror in Rwanda CBC ARCHIVES Peacekeeper to the World CBC ARCHIVES

13. 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

14. 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.

15. 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.