Belgian Imperialism: The Rwandan Genocide

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What was it like to live through the Rwandan Genocide between April to mid July of 1994? Genocide is the deliberate killing of a large group of people, especially those of a particular ethnic group or nation. Both Hutus and Tutsis suffered terrible atrocities as the Rwandan Genocide progressed. The Hutus murdered many Tutsis. The Hutus would rape the Tutsis. Finally the Tutsis were outnumbered and was hard to fight back. In the end more than 800,000 Tutsis were killed, while very little Hutus died. The genocide in Rwanda can be traced back to the creation of two classes; the Hutus and the Tutsis, during the Age of Imperialism under Belgian rule. Belgian imperialism created the ethnic tensions which ultimately caused the Rwandan Genocide.
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The Tutsis had better education and administrative training than the Hutus. The Tutsis were landowners while the Hutus were farmers. In 1959 the tensions between the Hutus and Tutsis grew. ”The revolution began with an uprising on Nov. 1, 1959, when a rumour of the death of a Hutu leader at the hands of Tutsi perpetrators led groups of Hutu to launch attacks on the Tutsi.“(Encyclopædia Britannica) There was a change in power in 1962, when the Hutus gained control of the Rwandan government. Genocide caused by the Hutus started in April and ended in July of 1994, killing more than 800,000 Tutsis. “The skeletons of genocide victims are still occasionally discovered, stuffed into sewers and under dense bushes.” (Gwin Nat Geo) This mass murder caused chaos in other countries. To stop this mass murder the Rwandans had to on countries to do something about this and few foreigners came to the rescue. The UN tried to stop the genocide of the Tutsis, but the UN could not fight back until these Hutus fired first. The UN had to watch Tutsis get killed by machetes all the time. According to Encyclopedia Britannica; It is estimated that some 200,000 Hutu, spurred on by propaganda from various media outlets, participated in the genocide. More than 800,000 civilians—primarily Tutsi, but also moderate Hutu—were killed during the campaign. As many as 2,000,000 Rwandans fled the country during or immediately after the

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