Rwanda Genocide Research Paper

Words: 403

Pages: 2

Open Document

In the case of Rwanda, we see a country that found much of its accomplishments after the Rwandan genocide. Much like South Africa and many other African countries, Rwandans were assigned ID cards that would state their ethnicity. However, in Rwanda, ethnicities were assigned and were not of true representation of the peoples ancestry; race and power would become synonymous. The two main “ethnicities” that become important in Rwandan society are the Tutsi and the Hutu. With all of the political conflict going on, Rwanda falls into poverty and it soon becomes not only a power struggle but an economic one as well. However, it is the Rwandan Genocide would forever change Rwandan and its inhabitants. In 1994, chaos broke loose after it was discovered that President Habyarimana …show more content…
(Rwandan Radio 1) Violence breaks out and Hutus begin murdering Tutsis, starting in Kigali. Propaganda, especially radio stations, begin to tell its audiences (particularly Hutus), to stand their ground and kill any Tutsi they come across. (Rwandan Radio 6) As Scott Straus states in The Order of Genocide: Race, Power, and War in Rwanda, “They chose genocide as an extreme, vengeful, and desperate strategy to win a war that they were losing.” (Straus 12) It was the only way the MRND saw they could stay in power and kill their opposition, the RPF.It is not until the Tutsis rebels obtain power that the violence stops. (Straus 14) Rwandan’s new authorities have worked towards ending ethnic division and avoiding another further violence. (Straus 14) As can be noted, Rwandan’s dealt with a massive internal crisis that could have easily torn the entire country apart and created issues far beyond our conception. Yet, it was not “ancient hatred” (Straus 2) that had caused the genocide, but the concept of a nationalist ideology and the long term effects of being

Rwanda Genocide Research Paper

The Rwanda genocide had to deal with tension among the Hutus and the Tutsis. This event started in April, and went all the way till July of 1994. This all started after the plane which was carrying the Hutu president got shot down. Each side is accusing the other, and the Tutsis are saying it was the Hutus fault. They think they shot the plane down in order to justify the killing of Tutsis. The Hutu group is blaming the Tutsis for the plane getting shot down, and think one of them did it. Therefore…

Words 205 - Pages 1

Rwanda Genocide Research Paper

The Rwandan Genocide The Rwandan Genocide was a traumatic, horrifying event and it left Rwandans psychologically damaged. One of the most difficult aspects of this tragedy is that with appropriate international intervention it may never have happened at all. In one hundred seemingly endless days, eight hundred thousand to one million Tutsi civilians and Hutu moderates were slaughtered by ethnic Hutu extremists. On the night of April 6th 1994 an aircraft carrying moderate Hutu President Juvenal Habyarimana…

Words 1367 - Pages 6

Rwanda Genocide Research Paper

In the year of 1994, Rwanda was in a state of panic, many people were killed among two major ethnic groups; the Hutus and the Tutsi’s. These large killings sparked a civil war to break out, which eventually lead to what is now known as the Rwandan Genocide. The United Nations is an organization that promotes international peace, security, and cooperation. When the killings and fights first broke out, the UN should have had more troops in Rwanda. Some of the UN troops were already there, due to the…

Words 385 - Pages 2

Rwanda Genocide Research Paper

The Rwandan genocide began on the dawn of April 7, 1994 after a plane crash which killed both the Rwandan and Burundian Presidents. The genocide lasted for a hundred days in which many people were slaughtered by fellow Rwandans. The world media has often portrayed the genocide as an ancient tribal conflict between the majority Hutu and minority Tutsi, implying that it is a phenomenon more specific to the African population. This idea is in line with theories of conflict such as the Huntington’s Clash…

Words 1360 - Pages 6

Rwanda Genocide Research Paper

In 1994 the biggest genocide the world had seen after World War II took place in Rwanda. Part of German East Africa from 1894 to 1918, Rwanda came under the League of Nations mandate of Belgium after World War I, along with neighbour Burundi. Rwanda’s colonial period, during which the ruling Belgians favored the minority Tutsis over the Hutus, exacerbated the tendency of the few to oppress the many, creating a legacy of tension that exploded into violence even before Rwanda gained its independence…

Words 1383 - Pages 6

Rwanda Genocide Research Paper

Genocide, by definition, is any act with the intent the destroy, in whole or part, a national, racial, ethnic, or religious group. The term is commonly related to the murder of the Jewish people by the Nazis during World War II. However, there have been many other genocides throughout history with catastrophic results. One of those being the highly-organized killing of the Tutsi people in Rwanda, Africa from April 7, 1994 - July 1994. By examining the events leading up to the genocide, the horrible…

Words 1059 - Pages 5

Rwanda Genocide Research Paper

Some of the challenges, caused by genocides, result from people fleeing and becoming an economic burden. These people potentially strain the resources and public services of other neighboring countries; for example, in Rwanda, where the UN directed peace troops to enter, approximately one million crossed into Zaire in a 48-hour period. In addition, Rwanda’s economy itself was shattered to pieces and has taken over a decade to re-establish. However, if the UN took initiative and entered it could…

Words 256 - Pages 2

Rwanda Genocide Research Paper

Nations and its involvement (or lack thereof) in the Rwandan Genocide sparked worldwide conversation. Often questioned in the years preceding, the inquiry of “Did the United Nations fail Rwanda?” still stands today. The most obvious answer would be yes, through the USA’s unwillingness to help,with their loss soldiers in a prior interference, the inability to use force, and the late action provided by the United Nations. The Rwandan Genocide stems from colonialist roots, a Belgian choice in the Tutsi…

Words 564 - Pages 3

Rwanda Genocide Research Paper

The Hutu, an ethnic majority in the country of Rwanda, murdered more than 800,000 people from April 6, 1994 to July 16, 1994. The people murdered were mostly of the Tutsi minority. This murdering was an act of genocide. Genocide is the deliberate killing of a large group of people, especially those of a particular ethnic group or nation. After the conflict, two million refugees from Rwanda were displaced. The Hutu and Tutsi ethnic groups did not get along. The Tutsis were identified as the superior…

Words 487 - Pages 2

Rwanda Genocide Research Paper

The Rwanda Genocide was known as a period of ethnic supremacy concerning the people in Africa through the destruction and mass killing of people. The genocide demonstrates the gravity of such impactful events and the suffering of human beings on an individual basis between two large groups in Rwanda: the Hutus and Tutsis. In 1990, in wanting to free Rwanda the Tutsis sought a violent approach and attacked the Hutu’s. The Hutus retaliated with considerably more force and power; resulting in killing…

Words 422 - Pages 2