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Rwanda Genocide Analysis

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Rwanda. Rwandan society is comprised of representatives of 3 ethnicities: Hutu (85%), Tutsi (about 14%) and Twa (less than 1%). The 3 groups shared the same language and common membership in the state institutions. When Europeans colonized the country at the end of the 19th century the Tutsi minority exercised control of the government. Berlin Conference of 1884 assigned Rwanda to Germany, and in 1919 it was passed to Belgium. Colonialists intensified bipolar differentiation between Tutsi and Hutu by imposing a system of identity cards in 1935, which put an end to movement between classes and emphasized ethnicity; a land reform, which privatized all the territory owned by Hutus with low compensation to the latter; and securing Tutsi domination …show more content…

After the sovereign of Yugoslavia disappeared each country began looking for security, independence and control over its own population dispersed all over the Balkan Peninsula based on nationality, religion or culture. The oral history carried by representatives of each nation had different versions of their interactions between one another in the past, especially on the issues of the resistance to Turks, the Ustasha in the 30s and the tensions during the World War II, like those between Ustasha and Chetnicks. It was based on a dualistic perspective and used to fuel national antagonisms after the “Brotherhood and Unity” slogan was no more applicable. The region of Central Podrinje was of great strategic importance for the formation of a new political entity called Republika Srpska. Its armies forcefully removed or murdered unwanted Bosnian populations off of the territories they seized control of. The term “ethnic cleansing” was introduced to describe this objective and is now widely accepted by the scholarly community. The struggle for Srebrenica and its neighboring villages started in 1992 and in April 1993 the UN declared the territory a “safe area” on the conditions of full demilitarization and establishment of no-fly zone. The agreement was soon violated by both parties. The entrance to and exit from the area was controlled by Serbian Army and the Bosnian Army in turn flew helicopters inside the safe zone. In 1995 mass murders broke out resulting in more than 200 thousand civilian

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