Rwanda

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Rwanda

"Overview of 1994 Rwandan Genocide"

(Hotel Rwanda)

April 6th, 1994 was the first day of a genocide in Rwanda that would last for one hundred days, and kill up to 800,000 people. The Tutsis were killed by the Hutu militia. Approximatley 10,000 people died in extremely violent ways each day using clubs, machetes, and various items such as garden tools.

Rwandan president Habyalimana and Burundi's president cyprien Ntaryamila held several meetings with Tutsi rebels prior to the violence that was on the verge of breaking out. While returning from a meeting in Tanzania, a small jet carrying the two preidents was shot down by missles as it approached Rwanda. Their deaths triggered political violence from Hutu extremists who were targeting people on a death list including Tutsi leaders. The violence spread throughout the country and would last for another three months. The Hutu militia began killing Tutsi civilians. There was no hiding your true identity because all citizens were in possession of identification cards stating their ethnic background.

The small United Nation peacekeeping force they had was overwelmed as all Tutsi families were seeking out protection. Ten soldiers from Belgium who were amoung the peacekeepers were captured by Hutu's and tortured tll death. This caused the United States, France,Belgium, and Italy to evacuate their own soldiers from Rwanda. No efforts were made to evacuate the Tutsi civilians, which meant they were left to defend themselves. The United Nations and the United States refrained from labeling the killings as a genocide because by law there would have had to have been an emergency intervention. This was because of the genocide convention created after the Holocaust.

By April 21st there had been thousands of tutsi's already killed. Because of the lack of guns and military weapons in the poor nations a majority of the genocide was carried out with machetes and household tools. Most of the United Nation's troops were pulled out of Rwanda, and only about two hundred soldiers were left for the entire seven million people country. The Rwandan radio was taken over by the Hutu's and they broadcasted hate propoganda and the location of Tutsi's that were hiding on a twenty four hour basis. Many Tutsi's were hiding in places such as churches and mission compounds; sadly those places became the locations for some of the worst masscres. Hospitals eventually became prime targets as well. In some local villages Hutus were forced to kill their Tutsi neighbors or face a death sentence for themselves and their entire families. Some Tutsi's were also forced to kill members of their own familie. Dead bodies became a common sight in streets, rivers, and many public places.

The killings finally stopped after armed tutsi rebels, invading from neighboring countries, managed to defeat the Hutus and halt the genocide in July 1994. By that time over a tenth of the population had been killed. President Clinton stated that his decision to avoid the genocide was one of his greatest regrets. It was estimated that 5,000 United States troops could have saved 500,000 Rwandan's without a single U.S. casualty. Lack of military intervention was the reason why this genocide got so out of control. This event is also why the country still has extreme levels of poverty.

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