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The background to the Rwanda genocide of 1994 is detailed here. This page examines the genocide itself and how today, many years later, the country of Rwanda still carries scars from that woeful period in
its history. The genocide was triggered when ruling Hutu
president Juvenal Habyarimana's plane was shot down by
what some believed to be a Tutsi conspiracy, others a Hutu militant missile
fired by rebels. This event,
set against a background of generational conflict between the Hutu and Tutsis,
started a genocide of Tutsi men, women and children by Hutu
led forces. It is estimated that eight hundred thousand people were killed
over the subsequent one hundred days, a total of nearly 20% of
the then entire population of Rwanda. The world looked on without
intervening, dismissing the genocide as a local difficulty
between warring factions.
However, the
genocide in Rwanda was not a spontaneous response to the
killing of its ruler. It had been planned well in advance and
was informed by a general Hutu belief that if the Tutsi were
'cleansed' from Rwanda, all of the country's problems would be
resolved. The Rwanda militia of 30,000 was poised to carry out
the massacre, but even worse, Hutu families were urged, under
pain of death, to kill their Tutsi friends and neighbours,
many of who had inter-married. Horrifically, Hutu fathers
butchered their children if borne to Tutsi mothers to cleanse
the race. The genocide ended in July 1994
after Tutsi rebels under the banner of the Rwandan Patriotic
Front (RPF) overthrew the Hutu regime, forcing millions of
Hutu to flee to refugee camps primarily in the Democratic Republic of
Congo, Uganda and Tanzania
where many died of disease. It is estimated
that apart from a few million, nearly the entire population of
Rwanda was displaced during this period. The new government
proposed that henceforth all Tutsi and Hutu should consider
themselves Rwandans and it installed a Hutu as president and,
whilst the conflict continued to rage unabated elsewhere, this
signalled an opportunity for an eventual peace that is still
intact today.
Whilst many urged action as
the massacres unfolded such as Kofi Annan, then
Undersecretary-General of the United Nations, who stated, "If the pictures
of tens of thousands of human bodies being gnawed on by dogs
do not wake us out of our apathy, I do not know what will", others such as then French President Francois Mitterrand allegedly
stated after the event, "In such countries, genocide is not too
important." Whilst former President Bill Clinton reiterated
his apology of 1998 on a visit to Kigali on 23rd July 2005
when he expressed regret for his "personal failure" to
intervene in the genocide. Today, nearly two decades
after these events, genocide suspects still live in various
countries across Africa and the wider world however the
Rwandan government continues to pursue those suspected of
genocide crimes with regular applications for extraditions. However pursuing those
deemed responsible cannot heal the wounds of the genocide with
a recent UNICEF study finding that 96% of those interviewed
in Rwanda had witnessed the massacres and 80% of all children
had lost at least one family member.
Rwanda Genocide: Volunteer in Rwanda
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Rwanda Genocide: Rwanda History
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Rwanda Genocide: Child Sponsor Rwanda
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Rwanda Genocide: Rwanda Country Profile
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