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Rwanda Genocide Essay

549 Words3 Pages

Genocide is a term that is used to describe violence against members of a national, ethnical, racial or religious group with the intent to destroy the entire group. This word came into use only after World War II, when one of the most infamous genocides had happened, the “Holocaust.” When the genocide of 1972 in Burundi had happened, it was due to the ethnic tensions which had risen over the years.
Tutsi and the Hutu tension had begun due to Belgium’s favoritism with the Tutsi and the European influence. Until their independence, Belgium would continue to influence their trade and other matters. Belgium had favored the Tutsi over the Hutu's, because of the Tutsi’s lighter skin, in both Urundi and Rwanda. This had also affected Tutsi’s place in political power and their economic standings. In Urundi, there was no significant impact the Tutsis. Like Belgium, Rwanda had imposed this same favoritism even though the most of the population were Hutu. This had led to numerous ethnic disputes between the two races in Rwanda. Due to these disputes, which often ended on death, the Tutsis fled to Urundi. The …show more content…

Both the Hutu and Tutsi had come from archaic kingdoms and also had roughly the same ethnic map, which consisted of the Hutu (85 percent), Tutsi (19 percent), and Twa (1 percent). The Hutu were comprised of agriculturalists, Tutsi of pastoralists, who represented the governing minority, and a group of pygmoid people known as TwaAfter having to distinguish themselves, the Hutu and Tutsi’s conflict become more about ethnicity. European influence had played a significant role in the genocide also. The Tutsi were already highly developed in a political sense since they were part of centralized states for centuries. So when Tutsi had adopted Europeans political structure, this allowed increase and expansion their control over the Hutu though the Tutsi had a smaller

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