10411 Dead a Day

The genocide in Rwanda was one of the most violent genocides in history. The roots of the genocide began when the Belgian colonists randomly split up the native Rwandans into two different ethnic classes. After the Belgians left, it became a power struggle between these two “different” groups. Eventually this struggle evolved into one of the worst genocides in history, and caused the deaths of 937,000 2 people in a 90 day period. This is an average of 10,411 people that died every day. To put this into perspective, in Bosnia 100,000-200,000 4 people died in a three year period. This is around 20% of people that died in Rwanda, and the genocide in Rwanda only lasted a quarter of a year. We need to find a way to stop these senseless killings and try to promote peace. We can figure out how to get rid of genocides by looking into the past. Seeing what mistakes we made may prevent future genocides. The genocide in Rwanda is an excellent example.

One of the main roots of this genocide started when the Belgians took control of Rwanda after World War I, and split the population into two different groups, the Hutus and the Tutsis 2 . There was no difference in the eyes of the natives between themselves, but the Belgians still split them up because they thought the Tutsis were taller. When the Tutsis became the rulers of Rwanda the hatred between the Hutus and the Tutsis started. The Tutsis started to oppress the Hutus, but when World War II started the Tutsis decided to lead a rebellion against the Belgians. Once the Tutsis began revolting the Belgians sided with the Hutus and the Hutus became the rulers of Rwanda. In 1962 the Belgians returned the country of Rwanda to the Hutu people and left. The Hutus wanted revenge for what the Tutsis did to them, so the Hutus started oppressing the Tutsis. This lasted for thirty years until some Tutsi protesters shot Hutu President Habyarimana's plane down on April 6, 1994.

The speed in which the Hutus decided to destroy the “Tutsi problem” was remarkable. Within 24 hours of President Habyarimana's death, roadblocks sprang up around the capital city of Kigali. The roadblocks were manned by militia named the Interahamwe, which means "those who attack together" 2 . At the roadblocks the Tutsis were separated from Hutus and hacked to death with machetes, although many taller Hutus were presumed to be Tutsis and were also killed. Meanwhile, death-squads made lists of who they were going to kill and went from neighborhood to neighborhood. The death-squads murdered not only Tutsis, but moderate Hutus who were against the genocide. The Hutus also killed the prime minister, Agathe Uwilingiyimana, because he was a moderate Hutu and was vocally against the genocide. The prime minister was guarded by Belgian soldiers who were also killed, making Belgium withdraw the remainder of its U.N. troops from Rwanda. This is how the genocide in Rwanda started and was carried out.

The genocide in Rwanda was not stopped by the international community. 3 Bill Clinton later said this was one of his worst mistakes in his presidency 5 . After the genocide the UN set up an international court in the Tanzanian town of Arusha to try the ringleaders. This, however, did not work because the courts were going too slow, and it was not possible to convict everybody because so many people were involved in the genocide. The courts decided to create mass trials and convict multiple people. In one trial 105 people were convicted. Obviously, the jails began overflowing with people.

If we look at what started this genocide we see its roots began when the Belgians split the population into two different groups and gave different amounts of power to each group. Since the Hutus had less power they started to hate the Tutsis and when the power shifted into their hands they wanted revenge. This is how most genocides happen: there are two or more different groups competing for power and they would kill to get the power. Another example of a genocide that happened like this was the genocide in Bosnia. The Serbs wanted more of the wealth of the Croatians so they invaded Croatia and killed 10 to 20 thousand people. The Holocaust is another example. In World War I the allies offered the Jews the Holy land if they helped the Allies, thus helping the Allies win the war. The Holy Land was very important because it says in the Torah that once the Jews regain control of the Holy Land the messiah will come. So in World War II Hitler, who was angry at the Jews for helping the Allies win the first war, decided to kill all of the Jews.

There is a common trend in genocides and how they start, so we need to find out how to stop future genocides from happening. We need to find a solution fast because Iraq is likely another genocide about to happen between the Shi'tes and the Suni who both want to control the government. One solution to stop this problem is to talk with Syria, Iran, and Saudi Arabia to try and promote peace. None of these three countries want the war in Iraq spilling onto their territories, so if we do that maybe we can stop the genocide from happening. We have all the right clues to help us get there, but we need to come together and find the solution so genocides will never happen again.

Work Cited

1 The Triumph of Evil.” http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/evil/ . 1/29/07.

2 “Rwanda: How the genocide happened .” http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/1288230.stm 1/24/07

3 “Leave None to Tell the Story: Genocide in Rwanda.” http://www.hrw.org/reports/1999/rwanda/ 1/24/07

4 “Bosnia Genocide” http://www.unitedhumanrights.org/Genocide/bosnia_genocide.htm 1/29/07

5 Bill Clinton. Keynote Address. Campus Progress National Student Conference. Swarthmore College, Swarthmore, PA. 13 July 2005. CampusProgress.org 1/24/07

By: Nick Vincent