Running head: RWANDAN GENOCIDE 1

Rwandan Genocide

Name of Student

Institutional Affiliation
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The Rwandan genocide was a culmination of a systematic and long history of ethnic rivalry.

Rwanda has, over the years, consisted of two Bantu tribes, namely the Hutu and the Tutsi. A host

of systematic historical events had influenced the 1994 Rwandan genocide, some of them being

activities that dated back to the precolonial period. Even so, the conflict was triggered by various

proximate factors like the assassination of the sitting presided in April 1994, an event that

completely threw the country into chaos.

Historic Factors

The Role of Belgium

After the First World War, Rwanda and Burundi became colonies of Belgium. The colonial

powers were characterized by the use of different mechanisms to control their subjects. Every

colonial power had mastered a specific tool through which it could assert itself to its colonies.

For example, the French had been known for the use of assimilation as a means through which it

could contain and sustain its authority over the subjects. Similarly, Belgium had been known for

the use of the divide and rule policies in most of its colonies. The application of the divide and

rule policy could be attributable to the post-colonial struggles among communities in countries

that were once under the rule of Belgium like DRC Congo and Rwanda. In the Rwanda case,

Belgium collaborated and empowered the Tutsis to rule over the Hutus. Hutus were the majority

in the country, with about 85% of the population, while the Tutsis were the minority. However,

Belgium empowered the Tutsis by granting them various incentives that enabled them to control

the Hutu majority. For example, Belgium provided education to the Tutsis to allow them further

while turning a blind eye on the Hutu majority groups. Also, the Tutsi people were installed in

powerful leadership positions.

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The empowerment and constant collaboration with the Tutsi people agitated the Hutu over the

years, thereby creating enmity between the two ethnic groups. As Belgium continued to rule

Rwanda as a colony, the two ethnic groups continued to develop a widening rift during the

colonial period. The division would culminate in the Hutu revolution of 1959. During the

revolution, an estimation of close to 330,000 Tutsis was driven into the neighboring countries.

This even reduced the population of the Tutsis further as a minority. Moreover, the governance

system by Belgium and the revolution in 1959 had set the stage for a systematic and historical

ethnic rivalry among the two groups.

Actions by the Rwandan Patriotic Front

The Tutsi refugees managed to organize themselves to form a movement that would assist them

in returning to Rwanda. According to Stanton (2004), the Tutsis in Uganda had played a critical

role in helping Yoweri Kaguta Museveni in capturing power in 1986. During the 1986 struggle

to seize power, Museveni won control through military action and had received significant

support from the Tutsis, thereby offering them an opportunity to organize a revolution from

Uganda. The Rwanda Patriotic Front staged a substantial movement in championing for their

return to Rwanda. Between 1990-1993, the Rwanda Patriotic Front sustained their strife to return

to their country by invading Rwanda, thereby getting the attention of both the then President

Habyarimana as well as the neighboring countries. Despite having received a considerable

amount of opposition from the President at the beginning, the intervention of other countries, as

well as the growing pressure, resulted in the commencement of a truce negotiation.

Proximate Factors

Arusha Agreement
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The resistance of the RPF had captured the attention of the neighboring countries who had

sought to broker a truce agreement. Among the countries which assisted in the peace deal

negotiation were; Burundi, whose President would later be killed alongside Rwandan President

on their way from Arusha, Tanzania, Uganda, Congo, among others. While the President was

convinced that it was in the interest of the country to provide a listening ear to the Rwandan

Patriotic Front as they had rights as other citizens, the decision offended some factions. The hut

extremists, as well as militia groups aligned to them, agitated against the agreement which the

President was brokering in Arusha, Tanzania. Therefore, they began to systematically engage in

inciting the Hutus in a bid to create revolt. Moreover, they made efforts to get access to arms

from the government through administrators who were extremists in preparation for resistance

against the Arusha agreement. In August 1993, the President signed a truce deal with the RPF, an

action that sent chills and anger down the spines of Hutu extremists.

The assassination of the President

The death of the President led to an immediate reaction, which fast turned into one of the worst

genocides in the 20th century. On the 6th of April, 1994, the plane carrying the President of

Rwanda Habyarimana alongside his Burundi counterpart Cyprien Ntaryamira was shot down

over Kigali, the capital city (Yanagizawa-Drott, 2014). No one survived the crash, and the news

about the crash and the death of the President led to sporadic and aggressive arracks by the

militia groups and Hutu extremists on the Tutsis and moderate Hutus. The extremists

systematically eliminated the Hutus, who were sober and in a dominant position to ensure that

the country had no one in control among the victims was the then prime minister.
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Moreover, the militants erected roadblocks and systematically exterminated the Tutsis as well as

the moderate Hutus. Additionally, the group infiltrated the media houses to spread misleading

information and to incite the Hutus against the Tutsis. On many occasions, they could ask Hutus

to kill the Tutsis as ethnic cleansing was necessary to have full control of their country, even

going to an extent of rewarding those who killed. In the end, two months later, close to 1 million

people were massacred and close to 2 million driven into neighboring countries as refugees.

In conclusion, the Rwandan genocide had been fueled by a systematic historic negative ethnicity

as well as live events. Additionally, genocides result in immeasurable loss of lives and

properties; hence every measure should be taken to avert the. Moreover, negative ethnicity

creates the need for executing ethnic cleansing among people living in a society.
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References

Yanagizawa-Drott, D. (2014). Propaganda and conflict: Evidence from the Rwandan genocide.

The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 129(4), 1947-1994.

Stanton 1, G. H. (2004). Could the Rwandan genocide have been prevented?. Journal of

Genocide Research, 6(2), 211-228.