Former UN Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali once said, "We were not realizing that with just a machete, you can do a genocide." To be candid, nobody anticipated the Rwandan Genocide that occurred in 1994. The genocide in Rwanda was an infamous blood-red blur in modern history where almost a million innocent people were murdered in cold blood. Members of the Tutsi tribe were systematically hacked or beaten to death by members of the Interahamwe, a militia made up of Hutu tribe members. In just 100 days, from April 6, 1994 to mid-July, 20% of Rwanda's population was killed; about 10,000 people a day. Bodies literally were strewn over city streets. Genocide obviously violates almost all articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights; however, the article I find most important is Article 3 - the right to life, liberty, and personal security. In just 100 days, one million people were denied the most basic privilege granted to every human – the right to live, simply because they were born to the wrong tribe.
It is impossible to even imagine the scale of hate, destruction, and massacre that occurred in Rwanda during those 100 days. Linda Melvern, on the International Development Research Centere website, describes in an article the Gikondo Massacre, one of the bloodiest mass-killings during the genocide. On the third day of the turmoil, about 500 Tutsi, many of them children, gathered at a church in the middle of Kigali, having stepped over the bodies of their neighbors to get there. They pleaded the clergy for protection. The priest did his best, but presidential guard soldiers arrived and accused the church of harboring evil. He then left, telling soldiers not to waste bullets; the Interahamwe, he said, would arrive with...
... middle of paper ...
...the hills of Rwanda will never be forgotten, and neither will the unspeakable horrors that took their lives. Every single person in this world must realize that we are all humans, we are all the same, and we all must work to promote peace. Above all, we must never let such violence, massacre, and bloodshed recur.
Works Cited
January, Brendan. Genocide: Modern Crimes against Humanity. Minneapolis: Twenty-First
Century Books, 2007. Print.
Jansen, Hanna. Over a Thousand Hills I Walk With You. Minneapolis: Carolrhoda Books, Inc,
2002. Print.
“Hiding from Death.” 60 Minutes. CBS. WCBS-TV, New York. 3 Dec. 2006. Television.
“Rwanda 1994.” ppu.org.uk. Peace Pledge Union, n.d. Web. 14 May. 2010.
Melvern, Linda. “Missing the story: the media and the Rwandan genocide.” idrc.ca.
International Development Research Centere, n.d. Web. 14 May. 2010.
As the news reported that Islamic State committed genocide against Christians and other minorities had suffered serious defeats from recent battles against the allied forces, the images of piles of dead bodies shown to the world in Rwanda about a couple decades ago emerge once again and triggers an interesting puzzle: why did the Rwandan Genocide happen in one of the smallest nations in the African Continent? The documentary film, Rwanda-Do Scars Ever Fade?, upon which this film analysis is based provides an answer to the puzzle.
The physical and mental intent to destroy another being often unveils the darkest side of human nature. In the memoir, “An Ordinary Man: An Autobiography” dedicated to the Rwandan genocide, war hero Paul Rusesabagina states: “A sad truth of human nature is that it is hard to care for people when they are abstractions, hard to care when it is not you or somebody close to you. Unless the world community can stop finding ways to dither in the face of this monstrous threat to humanity those words never again will persist in being one of the most abused phrases in the English language and one of the greatest lies of our time.” The United Nations promised never again would they allow genocide to occur after the Second World War. Unfortunately, less
For nearly one hundred days in 1994, cruel murders took place in Rwanda by the unethical Hutu tribe. Over a million lives were lost, almost destroying the Tutsi race. Immaculée Ilibagiza, one of the survivors, openly shared her story with us. How? How were so many lives lost in such a short time? Is the main question asked when thinking of Rwanda. How on earth could more than one hundred thousand people do that, how could so many people think it’s logically okay to go through with something so evil. Seems like a horrible nightmare. If we were to look into what led them to do this, it becomes crystal clear that the initial factors was due to just the spread of falsity. Though it can’t be proven, it is often said that a small
"Rwanda, Genocide, Hutu, Tutsi, Mass Execution, Ethnic Cleansing, Massacre, Human Rights, Victim Remembrance, Education, Africa." UN News Center. UN, n.d. Web. 01 Dec. 2013.
The continent of Africa has been continually engaged in civil, tribal and cross national conflicts from colonial independence up until present day. What historians regard as the most ‘efficient genocide’ in history, occurred in a mere 100 days in the small central African country of Rwanda. The Hutus and the Tutsis, two ethnic groups within Rwanda, have been at continual unrest for the past half a century. During the 100 day massacre of 1994, a murder occurred every two seconds; resulting in 18% of the Tutsi population being killed. A decade after the war, in 2004, the film Hotel Rwanda was released. The film followed the story of a Hutu man; Paul Rusesabagina as he housed over 1200 Tutsi refugees in his hotel. The Hotel De Milles Collines, a five-star resort in the capital city Kigali, was a safe haven for several hundred Tutsis during the 100 days of slaughter in Rwanda.
...war broke out in Rwanda between the Tutsi minority and the Hutu majority. After the Rwandan president Juvenal Habyarimana was killed and his plane was shot down, it sparked the organization of violence against the Tutsi across Rwanda. Between 800,000 and 1 million died. Since the 1989 overthrow of the Sudanese government by a military coup led by current President Omar al-Bashir, the second phase of the Sudanese civil war the government had bombed civilians and gave local militias the power to attack civilians across the country. From 1983 to 2005 an estimated 2 million Sudanese died due to combat tactics and famine. Why don’t we listen? Why doesn't the world look around and end these genocides? It’s because people care more about world domination than world peace. “When the power of love overcomes the love of power the world will know peace.” -Jimi Hendrix
Many innocent lives were taken during the genocide in Rwanda in 1994. Philip Gourevitch’s “We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed with Our Families,” explains why the genocide that occurred in Rwanda should not be written off in history as just another tribal disagreement. This book entails the stories of Gourevitch and the people he interviewed when he went to Rwanda. These stories express what people went through during the genocide, the loss they saw, the mass killings they tried to hide from, and the history of what led to the Rwandan genocide. Rwanda’s colonial past did influence the development of the genocide in Rwanda. The hatred between the Hutus and the Tutsis had been going on for many years before the genocide.
They had estimated of about 500,000 people being killed that day in April. The countries population and industrial infrastructure has been destroyed relocated. The gross domestic product was reduced. Humanitarian organizations working in the region say that Rwanda’s children is the most vulnerable to the poverty which then followed the ethnic group. The massacres left several children either orphaned or separ...
The Rwandan Genocide deals with the massacre of Tutsis from the Hutus over the course of 100 days in 1994 within Rwanda. Almost a million people died after ethnic tension over the years, and finally a plane crash killing political leaders, sent the Hutus into a fit of “revenge” and malice. The genocide inadvertently though, united the people of Rwanda post-genocide because of sorrows, guilt, and forgiveness that all the people could relate to and grow from. The Rwandan Genocide isn't very similar to other genocides history has seen before. Quoted from a 60 Minutes episode featuring a Rwandan survivor, Immaculee Ilibagiza, “It was extremely low-tech. No gas chambers here. Just machetes, spears, and knives. Wielded by Hutus…”. The Hutus also utilized radios to transmit information, like the location of Tutsis to murder, to new tactics etc. This genocide is known as the
This was a devastating event and it's near impossible just to forget about what happened. If you were to walk into Rwanda right now it would look as so that nothing went on. There’s communities with Hutus and Tutsis in it and living peacefully, even helping each other. The country started to come back together and look identical to what it once had been. The people who were the leaders of this mass genocide now getting convicted or already have been put to justice in the Gacaca courts. In gacaca courts they tried almost everyone. The courts had different levels, meaning if you admitted your guilt and showed remorse for what you did, you would be let free if you prove you have done so can prove the if there was an alternative you would do it then you were let free. there were some countries that helped. Places like Tanzania let the immigrants that fled Rwanda live in there country. However that’s the only countries that did help. After the Holocaust the whole world said never again. Never again will i let a mass killing happen like Hitler and his Nazi soldiers did to the Jews. The question being how did this happen. The claim that the United States made was they simply did not know. America genuinely felt bad, in 1998 President Clinton gave a formal apology which would later be known as the “Clinton apology”. In the apology Clinton tell Rwanda that he knows the U.S and the world did not do enough. The world sat there while Rwanda was in crisis. Lots of countries claim “they didn't know” but I don’t know if I am settled on that answer. So let's say they did know why would they not help. Was it because we did not want to start a war from intervening? Or because it was not our problem? Whatever the reason, we did not help and we owe the biggest of apologies to the people who were affected. The Origins of Conflicts
Africa has been an interesting location of conflicts. From the conflict between Ethiopia and Eritrea to the revolutionary conflict in Libya and Egypt, one of the greatest conflicts is the Rwandan Genocide. The Rwandan Genocide included two tribes in Rwanda: Tutsis and Hutus. Upon revenge, the Hutus massacred many Tutsis and other Hutus that supported the Tutsis. This gruesome war lasted for a 100 days. Up to this date, there have been many devastating effects on Rwanda and the global community. In addition, many people have not had many acknowledgements for the genocide but from this genocide many lessons have been learned around the world.
When the Rwandan Hutu majority betrayed the Tutsi minority, a destructive mass murdering broke out where neighbor turned on neighbor and teachers killed their students; this was the start of a genocide. In this paper I will tell you about the horrors the people of Rwanda had to face while genocide destroyed their homes, and I will also tell you about the mental trauma they still face today.
When the Belgian colonizers entered Rwanda in 1924, they created an ethnic classification between the Hutu and the Tutsi, two tribes who used to live together as one. After independence in 1962, there was a constant power struggle between the two tribes. Former Canadian Prime Minister, Jean-Pierre Chrétien described the situation as “tribalism without tribes.” (Destexhe, 1995) There were many signs leading towards genocide, yet the nations in power chose to ignore them. From April 6, 1994 until mid-July, a time spanning approximately of 100 days, 800,000 people were murdered when the Hutu attacked the Tutsi. No foreign aid came to the rescue until it was too late. Ten years after the genocide the United Nations was still involved in Rwanda, cleaning up the mess that was left behind because of man’s sinful nature. Could the Rwandan Genocide have been prevented, or is it simply a fact of life? Even though the international community is monitoring every country and race, such an event as the Rwandan Genocide could occur again because the European colonizers introduced ethnic classification where it did not exist and the nations in power chose to ignore the blatant signs of genocide.
The Rwanda Genocide took place in 1994 in the East African state of Rwanda. Over the course of approximately 100 days , from April to mid July, approximately 800 000 Tutsis were murdered.
In 1994 in Rwanda, a million members of the Tutsi tribe were killed by members of the Hutu tribe in a massacre that took place while the world looked away. "Hotel Rwanda" is not the story of that massacre. It is the story of a hotel manager who saved the lives of 1,200 people by being, essentially, a very good hotel managerIn 1994 in Rwanda, a million members of the Tutsi tribe were killed by members of the Hutu tribe in a massacre that took place while the world looked away. "Hotel Rwanda" is not the story of that massacre. It is the story of a hotel manager who saved the lives of 1,200 people by being, essentially, a very good hotel managerIn 1994 in Rwanda, a million members of the Tutsi tribe were killed by members of the Hutu tribe in a massacre that took pla...