Genocide in Rwanda and Burundi
Between April and July of 1994, more than 800,000 people, mostly Tutsi civilians, were slaughtered in a genocidal campaign organized by the Hutu hard-liners. By educating myself as well as others, I hope that we can prevent genocide organizers from eliminating the minority, Tutsi, and remove the tensions between these two groups. Pressure must be placed on the government to put the 120,000 suspected genocide criminals on trial .
This topic is one of the most compelling human dramas of the century. Additionally, I am very interested in human rights violations that are occurring around the world and genocide seems to be the most extreme form of infringement.
By studying the history of Rwanda and Burundi I hope to understand the ethnic conflicts that are occurring. I would like to find more information about their local governments and why they supported the slaughtering of so many people. It is very important that problems such as these are not left ignored, but dealt with accordingly.
Rwanda and Burundi history is marked by the continuing and constant battling between the Hutu and Tutsi tribes. Although the Tutsi are the minority tribe within central Africa, they were traditionally the leaders with power over the Hutu in Rwanda and Burundi . The Tutsi and Hutu tribes, therefore, are highly significant actors for the genocide that took place in Rwanda and Burundi.
The people of Rwanda and Burundi are divided into three distinct and specific tribal groups, all which share a common language. The pygmoid Twa constitute for less than one percent of the population and are hunters and forest dwellers . Their significance is minimal regarding the genocide that affected the Hutu and Tutsi tr...
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Since Burundi’s independence in 1962, there have been two instances of genocide: the 1972 mass killings of Hutus by the Tutsi-dominated government, and the 1993 mass killings of the Tutsis by the Hutu populace. Both of these events in Burundi received different levels of attention by the international community and the western media due to a lack of foreign governmental interest, political distraction, and an unwillingness to acknowledge the severity of these atrocities in Burundi. Interestingly, events of genocide occurring at times without these distractions received more foreign attention than those ignored due to these factors. Because of this, much of the western world is unaware of the Burundian genocide and events similar to it.
Greenfield, Daniel M. "Crime of Complicity in Genocide: How the International Criminal Tribunals for Rwanda and Yugoslavia Got It Wrong, and Why It Matters." The Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology 98.3 (2008): 921-24. HeinOnline. Web. 18 Apr. 2011.
Before Rwanda had been colonized, the Tutsis and Hutus lived coexistent lifestyles, they were unconnected indigenous groups that survived together without dislike towards each other. Some Tutsis and Hutus were local chiefs within Rwanda, and during this time there was no judgment or conflicts between the groups. After World War I, Belgium had claimed Rwanda as a colony and acknowledged the Tutsis as the natural born leaders of the country. All of the light skinned Tutsis were given Identity cards in order to distinguish them from the “low class” Hutus. At this time, racial pressures arose as the Hutus were beginning to be mistreated.
The Rwandan Genocide was a terrible event in history caused by a constantly weakening relationship between two groups of people. The country of Rwanda is located in Africa and consists of multiple groups of people. Majority of Rwanda is Hutu, while a smaller amount of people are Tutsis. The genocide started due to multiple events that really stretched the relationship between the two groups to its end. One of the starting factors was at the end of World War 1. Rwanda was a German colony but then was given to Belgium “who favored the minority Tutsis over the Hutus, exacerbated[exacerbating] the tendency of the few to oppress the many”(History.com). This created a feeling of anger towards the Tutsis, because they had much more power then Hutus.
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.
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Tutsi – A group of people in Rwanda that initially started as the cattle raising people of the old tribes. The Tutsi ruled over the Hutu for the majority of the time, until 1962 where the Hutu revolted. Then in 1994 the president of Rwanda’s plane was shot down, which sparked a massive violent out brake of Hutus killing Tutsis. In the film “Hotel Rwanda”, the Tutsi were the refugees in the hotel, trying to hide from the murdering Hutus.
The ICTR had been created in November 1994 and installed in Arusha in February the following year. In April it had produced its own list of four hundred genocide suspects, supposed to be more neutral than the various lists produced in Rwanda itself. A year later it was still floundering about, complaining about “lack of means,” not having even produced any indictment, much less
"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.
Tutsis are related to the Masai and the people along the Nile, while the Hutus
The Rwandan genocide occurred due to the extreme divide between two main groups that were prevalent in Rwanda, the Hutu and the Tutsi. When Rwanda was first settled, the term Tutsi was used to describe those people who owned the most livestock. After the Germans lost control over their colonies after World War I, the Belgians took over and the terms Hutu and Tutsi took on a racial role (Desforges). It soon became mandatory to have an identification card that specified whether or not an individual was a Hutu, Tutsi, or Twa (a minority group in Rwanda). The Tutsi soon gained power through the grant of leadership positions by the Belgians. Later on when Rwanda was tying to gain indepe...
The Rwandan Genocide “It is our responsibility to empower the powerless while giving voice to the voiceless” -(Irwin Cotler “Six Lessons from the Rwandan Genocide”) 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. Hutu and Tutsi Origins When Rwanda was first settled, the people there raised cattle, the ones with the most cattle were considered “Tutsi” and everyone else was ‘Hutu”.
There are several ethical issues surrounding the decision by the Hutu politicians to start the genocide. It is unfair and unethical for the Hutus to blame the entire Tutsi tribe for the president’s death. The Hutu politicians are so much driven by hatred that they fail to consider the innocent lives to be lost in the planned genocide. Instead, they organiz...
United Human Rights Council. (2014). Genocide in Rwanda. [online] Retrieved from: http://www.unitedhumanrights.org/genocide/genocide_in_rwanda.htm [Accessed: 21 Feb 2014].
Web. The Web. The Web. 9 Mar. 2011. The. http://www.wcl.american.edu/humright/center/rwanda/lesson.cfm>. Middleton, John.