Rwanda

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Rwanda

• The Historical Narrative

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Essential Questions

• Why does genocide happen?
• When, if ever, do we have a responsibility to
  intervene when we learn of peoples suffering in
  humanitarian crises such as genocide?
• How can we prevent genocide from happening again?

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Topic Questions

• Why did genocide happen in Rwanda? Was it
  inevitable?
• To what extent did the legacy of colonialism play
  a role?
• What should the United States have done, or not
  done, during the genocide?

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Genocide

• geno race/tribe
• cide killing
• the systematic killing of an entire group of
  people

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Land of a Thousand Hills
Terrace farming everywhere so few flat areas
that they have to use the hills
Photo Credits Katie Leonbergers 2006 Trip
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Typical Kigali hillside covered with houses
Views from the highway heading from Kigali to
Ruhengeri, a town located on Rwandas northwest
border
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Fields of corn and banana trees
Lakeside banana plantation
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Lakes too
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Pre-Colonial History

• Small clusters of people drifted into Rwanda
• Twa (1 of pop.)
• Hutus Tutsis

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Pre-Colonial History

• Rwandan state developedelite evolved
• TUTSI HUTU
• - elite - masses
• - cattle herders - farmers
• - minority - majority
• - 13 - 86

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Colonial History

• 1863 John Hanning Spekes Hamitic hypothesis
• 1894 1st European enters Rwanda (von Götzen)
• Late 1890s-1919 German colony
• indirect rule
• decent relations

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Colonial History

• 1919 ceded to Belgium
• race science affirms Hamitic hypothesis
• exploit Hutus no govt. jobs, no university,
  etc.
• 1933-1934 ethnic
• ID cards

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Colonial History

• 1959 Hutu revolution
• spark Hutu political activist beaten up by
  Tutsis
• overthrew Tutsi elite
• killed 20,000 Tutsi 300,000 into exile
• 1960 Belgians switch allegiances empower Hutus
• 1962 independence

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1960s -1980s

• ongoing attacks by exiled Tutsis Hutu
  massacres of Tutsis
• ex. 1963-64 14,000 Tutsi dead (Dec. 24-28, 1
  province alone) 250,000 Tutsis flee
• anti-Tutsi policies
• official pop. made 9 (vs. 13)
• quota system restricted access to edu., public
  employment, military

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1960s -1980s

• 1973 Juvenal Habyarimana seizes power (Hutu)
• quota system remains but relative peace
• Oct. 1990 Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) attacks
  from Uganda
• unsuccessful France helps
• Rwandan govt.
• gives excuse to attack Tutsis
• RPF carries on guerrilla war

Pres. Habyarimana (1973-1994)
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1993 Arusha Accords

• peace talks to end war (RPF vs. Rwanda)
• supported by Western Powers
• power-sharing agreement
• UN peacekeepers deployed (UNAMIR)

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April 6, 1994 Plane Shot Down

• Burundi pres. and Habyarimana are killed
• within hours
• genocide begins

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The Genocide

• 100 days (April-July)
• 800,000 dead (UN est.)
• victims Tutsis moderate Hutus
• interahamwe
• cockroaches
• Radio Milles Collines

A genocide memorial at Nyamata church outside
Kigali