Horror of Rwandan Genocide

Rwandan Genocide

Genocide is any act of violence that is committed intentionally aiming to kill and destroy the existence of a specific group of people whether whole or partial. It is the most unwanted world we have in English dictionary. I do not feel okay pronouncing it because I know it is the term that has been destroying part of humanity.

Concerning the Rwandan genocide. It is the worst genocide to have occurred in Africa. Rwandan do called it Tutsi genocide because it was mostly against the tribe of Tutsi. Hutu the majority group in the government took guns in their hands after hearing that their president died. Their president Juvenal Habyariman was shot down from the aero plane crash and so his people Hutu blamed Tutsi for that incident and they took guns and started massacre.

Another cause of that genocide was the Rwandan independent in 1963. During that time Tutsi people faced a stiff discrimination from the Hutu side and the only thing they could do was to travel out to Uganda. Their flight to Uganda made Hutu to set trap on them and in 1994 the trap flamed.

Another cause of the genocide was the civil war that took Tutsi to exile and after returning to their country in 1990. An agreement was signed by the president who was from Hutu tribe. After the civil war some of the Rwandan people still had grudges against others, these continues until 1994 when it multiplied into genocide.

Some of the causes of the genocide date back to the colonial days, during the time the Rwanda was rule by outside powers they the Tutsi were treated as superior by the Belgians so these caused tensions. During the colonial days Tutsi was rewarded with a good education and economic power from Belgian but unfortunately by 1962 the power went to Hutu people and immediately they sought revenge which continued until 1994.

I think the genocide could have been avoided if the tribes Hutu and Tutsi were united. If the Hutu tribe did not suspect Tutsi over the killing of the president, the genocide could not have occurred. It was also bad for the two communities to have lived all along sticking on the bad things that took place during the colonial days summing it up into what we called revenge. I said it this way because the massacre was the reference from what took place before.

There was not clear parties who took part in resolving conflicts. People said that the genocide ended just because Tutsi rebels defeated the government. Paul Kagame was the leader of the rebel whose party was called Rwanda patriotic front (RPF). He fought a serious war with Hutu the government and he defeated them hence end of genocide. The war ended only in hundred days and later Hutu had a president from them Pasteur Bizimungu and Paul Kagame became vice president and he was the one in charge of the army.

These too was not enough , Kagame and Bizimungu later fell out because the president was suspected of inciting ethic violence these made him to be jailed and immediately Paul Kagame took the throne and he has been the president since the turn of the new millennium.

Reference:

1. https://rwanda-genocide.wikispaces.com/Causes+and+Effects
2. https://www.e-ir.info/2011/08/03/the-rwandan-genocide-could-it-have-been-prevented-2/

 

 

 

Cite this page