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Genocide in Rwanda. Rwandan People. Rwanda’s estimated population (2008) 10,186,063 Hutu (Bantu) 84%, Tutsi (Hamitic) 15%, Twa (Pygmy) 1% CIA Factbook. History. Rwanda had been a colony of Belgium
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Rwandan People Rwanda’s estimated population (2008) 10,186,063 Hutu (Bantu) 84%, Tutsi (Hamitic) 15%, Twa (Pygmy) 1% CIA Factbook
History • Rwanda had been a colony of Belgium • European colonial powers oftenignoredtriballands when drew the boundaries of colonies
History • In 1959, three years before gaining independence, the majority Hutus overthrew the ruling Tutsi king • Over the next several years, thousands of Tutsis were killed • Some 150,000 Tutsis were driven into exile in neighboring countries
Civil War • Children of these exiles formed a rebel group -- the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) • In 1991, the RPF began a civil war. • This civil war would exacerbate ethnic tensions and culminate in a genocide.
Attempts at Peace -- 1993 • The warring parties agreed to a cease-fire • This agreement called for the Hutu government to share power with the Tutsi minority
First the Hutus refused this, then the RPF (Tutsi) refused it • United Nations peacekeepers deployed to patrol ceasefire and assist
What sparks the Genocide • On April 6, 1994, a plane carrying Rwandan President Juvenal Habyarimana and Burundi President Cyprien Ntaryamira, both Hutus, was shot down as it approached the airport in Kigali • Both presidents died
Next… • Approximately 2,000,000 Rwandan Hutus, fearing Tutsi retaliation, flee to neighboring countries • Tension and conflict continues sporadically
Both the RPF and the Hutu extremists were blamed for shooting down the plane… • Prime Minister Agathe Uwilingiyimana and other moderate Hutu leaders were assassinated
April 7 to mid-July 1994: Approximately 800,000 Tutsi and Hutu moderates are murdered • RPF seized control of country and genocide ends
In a March, 1998 visit to Rwanda, President Bill Clinton states: “We come here today partly in recognition of the fact that we in the United States and the world community did not do as much as we could have and should have done to try to limit what occurred”