Before we discuss the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi (Genocide), it is important that we understand the life of Rwandans during the years preceding the Genocide. Genocide does not happen spontaneously, but is a consequence of complex social, political, and economic realities as well as conscious efforts to dehumanize a group of people. The 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi was carefully planned and meticulously executed. The history of Rwanda is important to understanding the Genocide, and the history of genocide is important to understand so that we never live it again.
Hutu and Tutsi: The History
The Hutu, a people who made up the majority of Rwanda, lived and worked together with the minority Tutsi for hundreds of years during the pre-colonial period. Because these two groups spoke the same language, shared the same culture, and frequently intermarried, it was very difficult to make a distinction among them by ethnic group. However, the Germans and Belgians colonized Rwanda and indirectly ruled the country. Belgians came up with a discriminatory decision to separate us based on a national identity on which one could see the ethnic circled so they could be recognized. Thus, Belgians brought the labels of Hutu and Tutsi to the Rwandan people, which were designated based on their position in relation to the King, or Mwami, or how many cattle they owned. Put it simply, in pre-colonial Rwanda, Tutsi were seen as the cattle-herders and Hutu were the cultivators. Because of this structure, chiefs and other leaders, who typically owned many cattle, were mostly considered Tutsi and agriculturists were mainly considered Hutu.
However, the arrival of colonizers at the start of the 20th century twisted the system to which Rwandans were accustomed. German colonizers used the Mwami-based political system to collect tax and lead military campaigns against Hutu chiefs. After World War I, the League of Nations handed rule of Rwanda over to Belgium. The Belgian administration designated Rwandans as either Tutsi or Hutu and forced them to carry ethnic identity cards. When colonial rule transitioned to an end in the 1950s and 1960s, ethnic-based tensions rose and boiled over into conflicts, and Hutus killed many Tutsis in several massacres. The first massacre of Tutsis occurred in 1959 by the Hutu Parmehutu, an extremist party fostered by the Belgian government to abolish the monarch. Tutsis feared for their lives and hundreds of thousands fled their homes to seek asylum in neighboring countries, such as Uganda, Zaire, Tanzania, and Burundi. Independence was granted by Belgium on July 1, 1962. The Following year in 1963, massacres continued in different parts of Rwanda.
The Beginnings of Violence
In 1973, Juvénal Habyarimana, then Minister of Defense and police chief of staff, lead a coup of Hutu extremists to overthrow the first elected president of Rwanda. He installed a single-party government with himself at the head. Despite pleas from the Tutsi diaspora, Habyarimana did not allow them to return to their homeland but also allowed violence against the Tutsi to continue in Rwanda. Tutsis were denied education and employment. Meanwhile, as violence continued inside Rwanda, Tutsis outside Rwanda formed the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) in 1987 with the goal to liberate the country from violence and continued massacres and Habyarimana’s rule.
In October 1990, the RPF launched an attach against Habyarimana’s government. It was important for them to return home. Immaculee Songa remembers that all Tutsis inside without exception were wrongly accused of being accomplices of the RPF, some were put in prison and tortured to death, and all denied access to education and employment. The extremist Hutu became more obvious during the years following 1990 as the media became involved in spreading hatred of Tutsis and division. In December 1990, the Hutu Ten Commandments, a manifesto of extremism calling on Hutus to completely reject Tutsis and see them as the common enemy was published in the anti-Tutsi propaganda newspapers Kangura. Hutu extremist militias Interahamwe began to form and got arms from the government. Tutsis heard Hutus being called to “go to work,” a slogan that implied to go to kill Tutsis - the coming genocide.
During the 1990s, Habyarimana met with representatives of the RPF for peace talks, and on August 4, 1993, an agreement was signed in Arusha to put term on Habyalimana divisive agenda. As soon as he got in Kigali, he declared on the national radio that the agreement was nothing but paper insinuating that he will continue to use violence, intimidation, and civil unrest to silence the population. On the other hand, this angered Hutu extremists in his administration whom continued their plan to prepare for the elimination of the ethnic Tutsi. Going to war was the last option for the RPF as people continued being killed and human rights were violated against Tutsis. On April 6, 1994, Habyarimana and the president of Burundi were killed as their plane was shot down while returning to Rwanda from Arusha for one of these negotiations for peace. Habyarimana’s death served as the inciting incident that Hutu extremists needed to start the genocide of their Tutsi neighbors. The killing started that night.
The Genocide
Immaculee G. Songa recalls that people were told to stay in their homes, but many did not trust this advice and chose instead to flee to churches, to hide at neighbors’ houses, assemble at schools, and government places. Those who stayed in their homes were found there and killed with machetes. Those who hid in churches for sanctuary were killed as well and some churches were burned out and Tutsis who have gone to seek safety there perished in those churches. Other Tutsis were brought to public spaces to be killed in large numbers. Bodies were found everywhere—in mass graves, in homes, in forests, in latrines. Some bodies were transported on trucks to be put in huge mass graves. Death was everywhere.
On April 7, Prime Minister Agathe Uwilingiyimana, a moderate Hutu, and her ten Belgian UN peacekeeping guards were executed. Her death was part of a plan by Hutu extremists to silence the political influence of Hutu moderate who could see the genocide of Tutsis and may declare to the world what was happening. The executions of the Belgian guards may have also discouraged foreign intervention in the violence.
No Help
Although almost 2,500 UN troops were on the ground in Rwanda the first week of the genocide to ensure the Arusha Accord was respected, and to protect civilians, their mission became to evacuate foreign nationals and to defend only themselves. Journalist Mark Hubard reported for the Guardian on April 12 that UN troops watched as Rwandans were being killed and barred Tutsis from leaving on military aircraft. That same day Belgium announced that it would withdraw its troops from Rwanda. Many other countries followed suit. Hundreds of thousands of people died before the UN conceded that the violence in Rwanda was genocide, and many more died before the international community agreed to send 5,500 troops into the country in May 1994.
When French troops arrived on ground at the end of June, it seemed as though they did not have a mandate to stop the genocide. Instead, they created what they called a “safe area” in the southern province, which protected perpetrators of genocide who were fleeing the advance of the RPF. Tutsis continued to be killed in the “safe area.” Militias wanted to live no Tutsi behind. Interahamwe walked in mass toward neighboring countries unhindered by the foreign presence – French troops.
The End of 100 Days
On July 4, the RPF gained full control of Rwanda’s capital city, Kigali, from the Hutu extremists and ended the genocide. In 100 days, more than one million people were killed by acts of genocide, according to estimates by the Rwandan government. The horror of those days is not forgotten by survivors. The 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi should be remembered by the global community who witnessed hatred and violence, but stood idly by as genocide spread in all cities and villages of Rwanda and took more than one million precious lives.
By Survivors for Survivors
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