Causes Of The Rwanda Genocide

PROCESSING OF FINDINGS

The death of president Habyarimana was not the central cause of the Rwandan genocide of 1994 as there many other factors which led to the genocide. The massacre was a result of a building of tensions between the Hutus and Tutsis, culminating in death of president Habyraimana in April 1994 and the subsequent genocide. Tensions began to build from the time that Rwanda was colonized by Belgium after World War One when the more "white looking" Rwandan people were labelled Tutsis and the others Hutus or Twa. During this time lasting from 1945 to 1959 the Hutus were discriminated against while the Tutsis received unfair privileges. The relationship between the two groups further worsened when the Hutu citizens of Burundi

Source one shows that Rwanda was initially colonized by Germany in 1884 when Africa was divided into fifty countries,by fourteen colonial powers. Germany ran a very efficient country where the entire population shared the same belief system.[1]The people of Rwanda were united as one group and Germany did not interfere too much with the country, but rather had agents at the courts in Rwanda to advise the local chiefs. The Germans also had cash taxes rather than agricultural taxes in order to help the economy and encourage the growth of coffee beans. However after World War One, Rwanda was given to Belgium who divided the country into three groups: the Hutus, Tutsi and Twa. [1]The colonists believed that the Tutsi were a superior group because they were more "white" looking '.[1] The Hutus were therefore persecuted until 1959 when the Hutus overthrew the Tutsi government. However source nine depicts that before this time, the Hutus were forced to pay the Tutsis in order to work on their land and were treated as second class citizens. In addition 'any peasants who opposed the evolving order were treated with unmitigated harshness '. [9] The Tutsis and Belgium colonists did not tolerate any opposition to their system of rule and Tutsi nobles would often kill any opposition that challenged this system. If these Hutus were not killed, their property was

There were many reasons for the genocide in Rwanda. The colonization of Rwanda by Belgium and the initial mistreatment of the Hutus, initiated the conflict between the two cultures. The resentment between the Hutus and Twa was then further reinforced by the Burundi killings of 1972 and the Rwandan Civil War of 1990 at which point anti-Tutsi media propaganda campaigns were launched to strike fear and hatred into the hearts of Hutus towards the Tutsis for killing the Hutus in Burundi and because of the RPF 's attempt to overthrow the Hutu government. Moreover, the French military assistance provided the Hutu government with the necessary equipment to perform the genocide and the UN and other countries failed to come to the assistance of the suffering Tutsis between 7 April 1994 and mid July of that same