March 16, 2010

1. March 16, 2010 • Objectives: To develop an understanding of the Rwanda Genocide • Question: From your readings, what do you know about The Rwanda Genocide? • Agenda: Notes/Article

2. The Rwandan Genocide 1994

3. History of the Conflict • In the fifteenth century the Tutsis were the rulers of most of today's Rwanda • Put in place by the Belgians to rule • Tutsis were a minority of the population, mostly herders • Majority Hutus were mostly croppers • When kings distributed the land, they gave it the to Tutsis who charged Hutus to live and work on the land

4. Evolution of Titles • Originally an ethnic distinction • Everyone who wasn’t Tutsi is labeled Hutu • Became an economic status • Gaining wealth meant losing “Hutuness” • When the Belgians gained the land as part of the Treaty of Versailles in 1918, they used the distinction to “divide and rule” • Issued passcards to Rwandans • Gave preferential treatment to Tutsis (“with the long nose”) • Hutu’s had “blunt nose”

5. Beginning of a Social Revolution • Hutus begin to form a a nationalist party (Parmahutu) to fight for their rights in 1959 • Began killings of Tutsi (20,000 the first year) • 200,000 Tutsi refugees flee border and from the Rwanda Patriotic Front • Rwanda gains its independence from Belgium in 1961

6. What we have so far… • Tutsi minority is ruling • Hutus have formed groups to fight against the injustice • Tutsi refugees have formed groups in other countries

7. The Rwandan Civil War • Conflict lasting from 1990-1993+ • Between the government of President Habyarimana (Hutu) and the rebel Rwandan Patriotic Front (Tutsi group in other country) • Tutsis were trying to take back the power in Rwanda • Peace agreements were signed, but Habyarimana (Hutu President) doesn’t cede power to any other political party Habyarimana

8. The Action of… • two extremist Hutu militias • The Interahamwe • "those who stand together" or "those who work together" or "those who fight together” • A Hutu paramilitary organization • Backed by the Hutu Government • Impuzamugambi • "Those who have the same goal" or "Those who have a single goal" • Hutu militia

9. How It All Came About • Tutsi tribes placed ahead of Hutu and Twa during the Colonial Period by French rulers • Hutu are bitter over the fact that they have always been made to serve • Coup d’etat in 1973 installed Army Chief Juvenal Habyarimana of the Hutu tribe as President of Rwanda. • The group that surrounded the president, akuza, came up with the idea for the genocide.

10. Genocide first proposed in 1992 by the akuza group, made up of many people from Habyarimana’s Northern Rwandan homeland. • Feeling threatened by rising power of the RPF—Rwandan Patriotic Front, an army made up of Tutsi refugees—the akuza came up with the plan to get rid of Tutsi and moderate Hutu. • In 1993, massacres of Tutsi in a few regions of Rwanda led to a massive RPF assault that led many Hutu to shift their support to Habyarimana and his party. • Habyarimana signed a peace agreement known as the Arusha Accords with the RPF that led to the creation of the Political Group Hutu power. Many believe the treaty was a front.

11. Juvenal Habyarimana, the leader of the Hutu Power political party and the President of Rwanda before the Genocide Occurred. Habyarimana set up a national radio Station that broadcast anti-Tutsi, anti-opposition and anti-Arusha Accords rhetoric, all of which served to fuel the flames that would start the Genocide. In 1993, the assassination of Burundi’s popularly elected Hutu president forced thousands of Hutu refugees into Rwanda. The Hutu Power party accepted all the refugees. At this time the Rwandan military began training their youth organization, the Interahamwe, to be a civilian military of sorts.

12. The Catalyst • On April 6, 1994,the airplane carrying Rwandan President Habyarimana and the Hutu president of Burundi was shot down as it prepared to land in Kigali • Both presidents died when the plane crashed. • Responsibility for the attack is disputed, with both the RPF and Hutu extremists being blamed • In spite of disagreements about the identities of its perpetrators, the attack on the plane is to many observers the catalyst for the genocide

13. The Beginnings of Genocide • National radio urged people to stay in their homes • the government-funded station RTLM broadcast vitriolic attacks against Tutsis and Hutu moderates • Hundreds of roadblocks were set up by the militia around the country • Lieutenant-General Dallaire of the UN Peacekeeping Force and UNAMIR, escorting Tutsis in Kigali, were unable to do anything as Hutus kept escalating the violence and even started targeting the peacekeepers themselves

14. The genocide really began when it was moved into its second phase. • It was now more focused on the complete eradication of the Tutsi tribe and the help of local militia was enlisted by the main death squads of the Rwandan Army. • The genocide followed a distinct pattern in each community and was meticulously planned by the Hutu Government

15. First, civilian militias raided Tutsi homes and businesses, forcing fleeing Tutsi to seek refuge in central locations. • Often times, many of the Tutsi were told they would be protected at these locations, which were usually churches, schools, or public offices, when in fact they were being rounded up for mass murders. • Once gathered at these locations, soldiers police and the militia would fire on the crowds and would throw grenades into their midst. • Survivors were systematically slaughtered with machetes and axes. • Sometimes, buildings filled with Tutsi were set on fire, destroying all the people inside.

16. The Killings • Killed in their villages or in towns, often by their neighbors and fellow villagers • Militia members typically murdered their victims by hacking them with machetes, although some army units used rifles • The victims were often hiding in churches and school buildings, where Hutu gangs massacred them • Ordinary citizens were called on by local officials and government-sponsored radio to kill their neighbors and those who refused to kill were often killed themselves • Everyone killed so they weren’t killed themselves: • Mayors • Priests • EVERYONE

18. Sites like this one litter the Rwandan countryside after the genocide. This is just one of the places where the Rwandan military murdered hundreds of Tutsi and left them to rot.

19. Roadblocks like this one were manned by Hutu militia and civilians. People wishing to pass through the roadblock had to present the card that said which race they were, and if they were Tutsi, he or she was killed on the spot. If they were without a card, they were assumed to be Tutsi and killed on the spot. If a person had the inherent traits of a Tutsi or resembled a Tutsi they were killed on the spot.

20. All of these were common sites for an everyday Rwandan during this genocide. Burned and murdered, the dead were left to rot out in the open. Top right is a picture of a survivor who suffered numerous machete attacks.

21. The RPF became the new national army and set about taking control of the rest of Rwanda using mainly brute force. • Hundreds of people suspected of involvement with the genocidal plan were murdered and thousands more were arrested. • The RPF destroyed many refugee camps that held Hutu civilians who fled before the march of the RPF across Rwanda earlier in the year. Thousands of civilians were murdered.

23. Number Killed • Unlike Nazis they didn’t keep record • The RPF government has stated that 1,071,000 were killed, 10% of which were Hutu (determined in February 2008) • Gourevitch agrees with an estimate of one million • United Nations lists the toll as 800,000 • African Rights estimates the number as "around 750,000," • Human Rights Watch states that it was "at least 500,000

25. Issues Post-Genocide • Approximately two million Hutu refugees, most of whom were participants in the genocide and with anticipation of Tutsi retaliation, fled from Rwanda, to Burundi, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo) • Thousands of them died in epidemics of diseases common to the squalor of refugee camps, such as cholera and dysentery • These are the refugee camps that were aided by the UN and the US • The refugees have fueled wars in Uganda, Burundi, and the DRC