RWANDA

1. RWANDA The Genocide of a People

2. History of the Rwandan People • Historically, the Rwandans were divided by social class as Bahutu, Batutsi and Twa. • During Colonialism, the Belgians turned these social divisions into ethnic ones, creating identity cards for Rwandans marking them as either Tutsi or Hutu (and Twa) • The Tutsi, at 15% of the population, were the taller, “whiter” looking Rwandans. • They were given the jobs of the ruling class. • The Hutu, making up the 85% majority, were not able to advance. • This caused increasing tension between the Hutu and the Tutsi.

3. The History of Rwanda • Rwanda was one of many colonial African nations which sought its independence in the mid-1900s. • The Tutsi monarchy of Ruanda-Urundi gained independence in 1954 after years of Belgian rule. • This did not bode well with the Hutu majority, who wanted to rule themselves. • Between 1959 and 1962, a series of revolutions brought about a reversal to the power structure, as the Hutu majority won control.

4. The Creation of Rwanda • In 1959, the UNAR party was formed by the Tutsi in reaction to the PARMEHUTU. • Fights between PARMEHUTU and UNAR ensued. • In 1957, Gregoire Kayibanda wrote his “Hutu Manifesto” and founded PARMEHUTU. • In 1959, after a Hutu politician was beaten by the Tutsi, a violent backlash ensued and thousands of Tutsi were killed. • In 1960, the Belgian government allowed democratic elections in Ruanda-Urundi and the Hutu majority won control. • This change in power caused much tension and violence. The Belgian government, with UN urging, decided to split Ruanda-Urundi into 2 separate countries, Rwanda and Burundi. Each had elections in 1961. • On July 1, 1962, Belgium (with UN oversight) granted full independence to the 2 countries. • Rwanda was created as a Republic governed by the majority Party of the Hutu Emancipation Movement (PARMEHUTU) • Gregoire Kayibanda was the first president, from 1962-1973.

5. Events leading to the Genocide of 1994 • Gregoire was overthrown by Juvenal Habyarimana in 1973, a Hutu leader. • Habyarimana took control in a military coup and kept power until 1994. • Events in Rwanda were strongly influenced by what was happening in neighbouring Burundi, where nearly 200,000 Hutus were killed in the Burundi genocide of 1972 by the ruling Tutsi. • In Rwanda, with the Hutu in power, an increasingly militant faction of the government advocated the eradication of the Tutsi. • Due to mounting violence, many Tutsi were forced into exile. They eventually banded together to form the RPF – the Rwandan Patriotic Front. • Their battles with the Rwandan Armed Forces (FAR), the army of the Hutu government, created a 3-year long civil war. • Due to increasing violence, the Arusha Peace Accord was put forth to end the war between Habyarimana’s Hutu government and the Tutsi-led RPF rebels.

6. Steps Leading to the Genocide of 1994 • The Arusha Accord stripped much of Habyarimana’s power and put more power into a Transitional Broad Based Government (TBBG) which included the RPF. • Habyarimana’s government was strongly opposed to this and initially refused to sign. They began to train the Interahamwe, an organized “youth group” whose job it would be to slaughter the Tutsi. • On August 4, 1993, The Rwandan Patriotic Front (RFP) and the Government of Rwanda signed the Arusha Accord, which was meant to end the Civil War. • In November 1993, the United Nations Assistance Mission for Rwanda force (UNAMIR), began to arrive in Rwanda. They were led by Canadian Lieutenant General Romeo Dallaire.

7. Inciting Incident to the Rwandan Genocide • On January 11, 1994, Dallaire warned that there were major weapons cache’s discovered and requested permission to raid. This was denied as it was not part of the UN Mandate. • On April 6, 1994, Rwandan President Juvenal Habyarimana met with the Hutu President of Burundi, Cyprien Ntaryamira to discuss the peace agreement. • Their return flight was shot down and both Presidents were killed • The assassination of the President led to 100 days of slaughter of both moderate Hutu’s and all Tutsi.

8. The Genocide • On April 7, 1994, 10 Belgian soldiers with UNAMIR were killed, leading Belgium, France and Italy to send troops to evacuate their citizens on April 9-10. • Immediately after the crash, the Interahamwe and Presidential troops killed all moderate Hutu politicians and officers. • At the same time, the slaughter of Tutsi civilians began. • By April 14th, Belgium withdrew their troops. • It was not until May 17th that the UN finally agreed to send 5,500 troops to Rwanda. • By that time, the International Committee of the Red Cross estimated that 500,000 Rwandans had been killed. • By the time 100 days passed, more than 800,000 Rwandans had been killed.

9. Rwanda Post-1994 • In mid-July, Tutsi-led RPF forces captured Kigali. • The Hutu government fled to Zaire and the RPF set up an interim government of national unity. • The first interim government was led by Pasteur Bizimungu. He was a Hutu who was critical of Habyarimana’s hardline anti-Tutsi government, and was chosen as President so that the majority Hutus would still be highly represented in the government. • The RPF leader, Tutsi Paul Kagame, was chosen as vice-president. • Paul Kagame became President of Rwanda in March 2000, after Bizimungu was deposed. • On August 25, 2003, he won a landslide victory in the first national elections since his government took power in 1994. • Paul Kagame is said to have ordered the incident that sparked the genocide in the first place: In November 2006, French Judge Jean-Louis Bruguière signed international indictments against nine of President Kagame's senior aides and accused Kagame of ordering the assassination of two African presidents (Rwandan president Juvénal Habyarimana and his counterpart Cyprien Ntaryamira of Burundi). Kagame could not be indicted under French law (as a head-of-state he has immunity from prosecution). • Many people, including Romeo Dallaire, have accused the French and Belgians of assisting in the genocide.

10. The Aftermath • Although the government of Rwanda is now relatively stable, there were many retributive acts against the Hutu once the Tutsi came back into power. • Many of the survivors feel like they are “the living dead” as they go back to empty homes – most have lost their entire families; mother, brothers, sister, children, grandparents. • The perpetrators of the genocide were sought out, and the UN Security Council created the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda to charge them with crimes against humanity. • Because of the great number of prisoners, and the many cases awaiting trial, in 2001 the government began implementing a participatory justice system, known as Gacaca. • Lieutenant-General Romeo Dallaire became the most well-known eyewitness to the genocide after co-writing the book Shake Hands with the Devil: The Failure of Humanity in Rwanda. • In the book, Dallaire describes his experiences with depression and post-traumatic stress disorder after witnessing the mass-slaughter of innocent civilians and being unable to stop it. • This is one of the main themes in the novel Shattered by Eric Walters which Ms. Mirza’s Grade 10 English class at Sandalwood Heights SS LOVES TO READ!