Rwandan Genocide

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Hotel Rwanda depicted the genocide in 1994 as a brutal civil war between the Hutu and Tutsi ethnic groups. In the beginning, locals were convinced the conflict between the groups would die down, but instead it only escalated when the President's plane was shot down.

Hutus began hunting Tutsis like it was their job; they literally stopped working just to kill the other ethnic group, and made it their goal to wipe out all Tutsis. They used household items and gardening tools to murder almost a million Tutsis. This was the brutal genocide that many nations had overlooked, especially after failing to send in military aid that would have saved the lives of thousands. In fact, in the Overview of 1994 Rwandan Genocide article we received in class, "...President Clinton stated that his decision to avoid the genocide was one of the great regrets of his life. He and his military experts concluded afterwards that 5,000 U.S. troops could have saved 500,000 Rwandans without a single U.S. casualty." Because these rich countries lacked the ability to care and act upon what was happening to the poor Rwandans, many, many Rwandans were murdered.

This conflict and unrest in Rwanda ruined its international relations because everybody was afraid of the Hutu army. It was seen when other countries decided to abandon Rwanda, leaving the Tutsis alone and helpless. It also pushed a lot of economic growth backwards, since many Hutus broke into shops and other businesses to kill Tutsis.

Because many businesses were destroyed and left uncared for if their owners were dead, poverty increased as surviving families had little property or ways of making money. Furthermore, the mass murder left thousands of bodies all throughout Rwanda. It was going to take time and therefore money to clean up the mess left behind, which further pushed Rwanda into poverty.

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