The History of Rwanda

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The History of Rwanda

• By
• Your Name Here
• Date

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Pre-Colonial Rwanda

• Rwanda was a highly centralized kingdom ruled by
  Tutsi kings
• The king ruled through three categories of chiefs
  cattle chiefs, land chiefs and military chiefs
• Ubuhake, a clientele system, permeated the
  whole society

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Colonial Rwanda

• In 1899, Rwanda became a German colony
• In 1919, after the defeat of the Germans during
  World War I, Rwanda became a territory of the
  League of Nations under the Belgian administration

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Colonial Rwanda (Contd)

• In 1935, the Belgian colonial administration
  introduced a prejudiced national identification
  based on ethnicity wealthy people such as the
  ruling elite were registered as Tutsi and those
  with less wealth as Hutu
• With the demand for independence arose the Union
  Nationale Rwandaise (UNAR), a political party
  consisting of the Tutsi people

• The Belgians then quickly sided with another
  party called PARMEHUTU which was founded as a
  sectarian ethnic ideology
• In 1959, the first massive slayings of Tutsi by
  PARMEHUTU occurred under Belgian supervision
• With widespread violence, PARMEHUTU destroyed the
  monarchy
• On July 1st, 1962, Rwanda was granted formal
  independence from Belgium

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Post-Independence

• From 1959 onward, Tutsi people were targeted
  causing the deaths of thousands
• The First Republic under President Gregoire
  Kayibanda institutionalized the discrimination
  and massacre of Tutsi people
• In 1973, President Kayibanda was overthrown in a
  coup detat Major General Juvenal Habyarimana
  was brought to power and more massacres of Tutsi
  occurred

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Post-Independence (Contd)

• In 1975, President Habyarimana formed MRND, a
  single ruling party that in 1978 created a
  constitution to return him to office repeatedly
  through elections where he was the only
  candidate
• Habyarimanas regime became more violently
  intolerant political activities remained banned

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Post-Independence (Contd)

• Divisions within the ruling Hutu class, which
  culminated in the 1973 coup, became more
  heightened in the 1970s and 1980s
• In 1987, the Rwandese Political Front (RPF) was
  formed, its objectives included promoting
  national unity, establishing a true democracy and
  providing security for all Rwandese
• On October 1st, 1990, the RPF took up arms
  against the dictatorship France, Belgium, and
  the Democratic Republic of Congo dispatched
  troops to Rwanda to help in the civil war
• On August 4th, 1993, the Arusha Peace Agreement
  was signed by both the RPF and the ruling
  government but it was never implemented

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Summary Slide

• Pre-Colonial Rwanda
• Colonial Rwanda
• Post-Independence