Genocide of Rwanda

The word “genocide” is internationally sticking and brings countless debatable questions. In the country of Rwanda, two ethnic groups, the Tutsis and Hutus, shared the business of farming, culture, and their nationality for over 600 years. However, the stability of Rwanda’s society became unsettled when the Europeans took over and introduced the practice of choosing specific groups to govern and be governed. The Tutsis, who were more aristocratic in appearance, were chosen to behave as leaders, leaving the Hutus to feel treated like peasants. A wedge was driven between them and so began the feelings of hatred toward the Tutsis. The church, also introduced by the Europeans, taught Hutu to see themselves as oppressed, and inspired their revolution that began in 1956. By 1959 they had seized power and were stripping Tutsis communities of their lands. On April 6, 1994 the plane carrying Rwanda's president was mysteriously shot down and caused the Hutus to commence operation “Final Solution”. The Hutus government accused Tutsis of killing the president. Hutu civilians were then told, by radio and word of mouth, that it was their duty to wipe out the Tutsis. Up to a million people died before the RPF was able to take full control. Unlike other genocides, no-one tried to keep the genocide in Rwanda a secret. Journalists and television cameras reported what they saw and found. There was also a United Nation force in place, monitoring as people were killed in the street by grenades, guns and machetes. USA had even been asked to use its hi-tech skills to get the génocidaire radio off the air. There'd been at least 10 clear warnings to the United Nation of the 'Hutu power' action, including an anxious telegram three months before the event. Yet the Tutsis were never helped. After the RPF had finally taken control and put an end to the murders, around two million Hutu fled over the borders to avoid their consequences. 1996 the refugees were forced out of the countries they had fled to, leaving no place for the Hutus to go except for back to Rwanda. The governments of Rwanda surprised everyone by declaring arrests of any suspected génocidaires returning to Rwanda. Nearly a million suspects were already in prison awaiting trial and thousands more were returning home and placed in prison also. Due to so many imprisonments, many Hutus were set free by the RPF government. Only two years after the genocide, killers and survivors found themselves living side by side. For some génocidaires freedom meant another chance to kill. In the months after the genocide they murdered many of the witnesses whose evidence could have convicted them along with more innocent Tutsis. In 1999, the present of the United Nations wrote a report about the United Nation’s failures during the genocide. It criticized the USA and United Nation leadership for ignoring the evidence that a slaughter was planned and for failing to act when the killing began. At the end of 2001, around 125,000 prisoners still remained to be tried.

With this in mind, we are left with many unanswered questions. When I first read about how the Hutus government used the plane crash to turn the citizens even more against the Tutsis, I related it directly to 9/11. I thought they were similar because some people in America say that the government made the US citizens thinks it was the Iraqi people who attacked the towers. They believe the government did that to create more hate toward Iraq and eventually go to war. In the same way, the Hutus government used the attack on the president to increase the hate toward the Tutsis. Also, why didn’t America answer to the call of help when the they were asked to get the génocidaire radio off the air. The local radio incited the Hutus to violence by repeating quotes such as, “We must exterminate them, sweep them from the whole country.” I believe America didn’t respond because it would be going against freedom of speech and would then be hypocritical for us to take it off the air. I personally believe that hearing the instructions to kill over the radio made it much harder to ignore.