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Racial Tensions In Rwanda Genocide Essay

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In Rwanda, racial tensions escalated to the point that extreme Hutus started to slaughter thousands of Tutsi and moderate Hutu, marking the start of the Rwandan genocide. Over the course of three months in 1994, 800,000 citizens -- both Hutu and Tutsi -- had been murdered by extreme Hutu (“Rwanda Genocide”). The genocide escalated until the Tutsi-led Rwandan Patriotic Front, or RPF, was able to invade the capital city and end it. Even after the killing stopped, the conflict continued. Tension between the ethnicities still existed, and citizens had to deal with reclaiming their land, especially because so many had fled Rwanda as refugees. The country is still haunted by its history, and has yet to recover. There were many causes of the genocide. Conflict had festered for a long time before the genocide had begun. This was primarily due the country’s high population density and insufficient agricultural production, which meant that a majority of citizens were malnourished. Many family members fought over who would control the land, because farming was the best option for obtaining enough food. The most significant cause of conflict, however, was the racial tension that had escalated over many years. When Belgium colonized the country in 1916, they decided the Tutsi were superior because they more closely …show more content…

The negotiation process can be applied to other conflicts we have studied. For example, earlier in the year we were given countries in the UN, and we had to decide how to deal with the Syrian Civil War. Each country had its own motives and interest, and it was hard to compromise on many of the issues. I am sure that I would have experienced similar struggles during the Rwandan negotiation. Anytime that people with opposing viewpoints come together to compromise, I predict there will be obstacles to

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