Joe Hoffmann

Mr. Sciuto

April 15, 2007

Rwandan Genocide

 

            Rwanda consists of two main ethnic/social groups, the Hutus and the Tutsis.  Traditionally, the Hutus and Tutsis were said to be physically distinguishable.  The Tutsis could be distinguished by their tall, skinny bodies and sharp features while the Hutus were shorter, wider, and had less rigid features.  Many people today reject these stereotypes and say they are old myths.  According to the vice president of the National Assembly Laurent Nkongoli, “you can’t tell us apart, we can’t tell us apart.”²  Recently, many people have been known to switch groups giving the idea that Hutu and Tutsi are labels of class, not labels of ethnicity.  The Tutsis are the minority known to be in the commanding social positions while the Hutus are in the subordinate social positions. 

            The Rift between the Hutus and Tutsis began in the early Twentieth Century while Rwanda was a colony of Belgium.  While Belgium held control over the country they created the upper class Tutsi power structure for those administering the country.  They consistently favored the Tutsis in areas such as education which led to most Tutsis being literate while Hutus were not.  The Tutsis helped enforce the harsh rules Belgium imposed on the farming class Hutus.  The Hutus grew to see the Tutsis as oppressors who were no different than the Belgians.  Hutus and Tutsis lived together as neighbors before the colonial period.  However, Belgian rule solidified the racial divide.  When the Belgians suddenly left Rwanda they left behind a rift between the Tutsis and the Hutus. 

            Racial tensions were sparked again in 1990.  Exiled Tutsis demanded the government recognize them as citizens of Rwanda but were tired of waiting for a response from the government.  In 1990 a group of Tutsis invaded Rwanda from a base in neighboring Uganda.¹  The Rebel forces, primarily Tutsis, blamed the government for failing to democratize and resolve the problems of 500,000 Tutsis living in exile around the world.¹  Though the Tutsi objective seemed to be to pressure the Rwandan government into making concessions, the invasion was seen as an attempt to bring the Tutsi ethnic group back into power.  This invasion infuriated the Hutus who were now looking for a reason to strike the Tutsis.

            The Rwandan genocide began on April 6, 1994 when an airplane carrying extremist President Habyarimana and Cyprien Ntaryamira, president of Burundi, was shot down while preparing to land.  Though no one could pin this on any Tutsi, it was reason enough for the Hutus to begin a mass slaughter of the Tutsis.  The military and militia began to kill all the Tutsis they could find.  Even the moderate Hutu who sympathized with the Tutsis were murdered.  Not just militiamen killed the Tutsis but ordinary citizens were often forced to participate in the slaughter.  In the course of four months about 900,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus were dead.  The rebel Tutsis defeated the government but not in time to save the lives of many fellow Tutsis.

            During the genocide both Tutsis and Hutus fled Rwanda fearing for their lives.  In total two million refugees fled to the small town of Goma in neighboring Zaire.¹  Camps were set up for the fleeing refugees but because eastern Zaire was a remote area relief agencies had little presence there.  The movement of the Rwandans was described as the equivalent of “quite a big European city coming into a small town in a remote area in 24 hours.”¹  Not only did the peasants flee to Zaire but also the President of the Hutu led government and the rest of his loyal troops.¹  It was feared that many of the millions of dollars being sent to Zaire was a waste because the relief operation was being taken over by the former members of Rwanda’s extremist Hutu Government.⁴  Rwanda’s former military was preventing all but a few people from returning home.⁴  In and around Goma, refugees have been bludgeoned to death by the military for talking about returning to Rwanda.⁴  Militia men caused riots when humanitarian aid groups attempted to give out food, plastic sheeting, and other basic materials to mothers and children.⁴  Before allowing aid organizations to give food or medicine to the civilian population, the former military demanded its share.⁴  Famine was widespread among the Rwandans in Zaire, the U.N. World Food program was diverting food from Angola and Sudan, where hundreds of thousands were faced with war induced famine.¹ 

            After looking at the horrible acts within rwanda many want to ask who is to blame, and were they punished for their actions?  The Belgians submitted a commission report about Rwanda explaining their point of view on the genocide.  The commission recognized the responsibility of Belgium in the Rwandan tragedy: “The commission considers that beyond the international community, our country equally carries a responsibility in the events.”⁵  When the new Rwandan Government of National Unity was established on July 17, 1994 it proclaimed justice as one of its priorities, but what justice really took place after the genocide?⁵  The ones who prepared the genocide and other crimes against humanity  in the spring of 1994 were those in high positions in the army and other political authorities.  Parts of the army and national police executed the crimes, helped by multiple militias, as well as by a large part of the population manipulated by the authorities.⁵ After the genocide more than 100,000 people, mostly peasants, were in prison waiting for their judgments.  Many sources agree that the majority of these prisoners were innocent.⁵  Can this really be callewd justice when only one of the high ranking officials who caused the genocide has been judged?  Many of the brains behind the genocide saunter around the world living in material ease with money stained with blood.⁵  Many people say the trials in Rwanda were going too slowly.  It wasn’t until July 20, 2006 that Joseph Serugendo, the former radio station host who encouraged the Hutus to kill Tutsi “cockroaches”, was found guilty of the charges against him.²  Even if these people are all found guilty, are there really solutions that can produce justice for what happened? 

What justice, if any can be imposed upon children who committed genocide?  More than 1000 children were detained on suspicion of participating in the genocide.³  Should kids be held responsible for their actions? Most people in Rwanda say they should.  Kubwimana, a seven year old is one of 150 children serving time in the Gitagata Children’s Reeducation Center.³  When asked about what happened to him he replied, “I don’t know exactly what genocide means, I don’t know why I’m here.  I was just told at the police station that I was going to be imprisoned.”³  Under Rwandan law, children under 14 aren’t criminally responsible for their actions.  But the desire of genocide survivors for punishment has won out over laws that judge children separately.  What is our moral obligation with regard to victims and future generations?  We are responsible for establishing a memory as complete and objective as possible: “It is a condition, certainly insufficient but nevertheless indispensable if one wants the veil of forgetfulness not to constitute the bed for revisionism and negations of all genres, if one does not want a single other genocide to be able to be perpetrated, in Rwanda or elsewhere.”⁵  There is a lot to be learned from this tragedy.  What a shame it would be if it happened again.

 

 

 

Bibliography

1.) "Two Million Rwandan Refugees Flood into Zaire...Massive Humanitarian Crisis is Sparked; Other Developments." Facts On File World News Digest 21 July 1994. Facts On File World News Digest @ FACTS.com. Facts On File News Services. 15 Apr. 2007 <http://www.2facts.com>.

 

2.) "Rwanda: Genocide Sentence." Facts On File World News Digest 20 July 2006. Facts On File World News Digest @ FACTS.com. Facts On File News Services. 15 Apr. 2007 <http://www.2facts.com>.

 

3.) Hackel, Joyce. "When kids commit genocide." Christian Science Monitor 88.7 (1995): 6. MAS Ultra - School Edition. 15 April 2007. http://search.ebscohost.com.

 

4.) Moran, Mary. "Help for Rwandan families scarce in camps." Christian Science Monitor 4 Jan. 1995: 19. MAS Ultra - School Edition. 15 April 2007. http://search.ebscohost.com.

 

5.) Immaculate Mukamuhirwa; François-Xavier Nsanzuwera. “Open Letter to Rwanda: Justice for Rwandans” Issue: A Journal of Opinion, Vol. 26, No. 1, Central Africa in Crisis. (1998), pp. 2-4.