Unit 5 Section 2: Rwandan Genocide

Background to the
Genocide
Rwanda had been a colony of Belgium since the end of World War I (prior to that it had been
part of the German colony known as German East Africa), and by the late 1950s decolonization,
a movement throughout Africa advocating self-rule for Africans, had arrived in Rwanda. Anti-
colonial sentiment rose throughout central Africa, and a socialist platform of African unity and
equality for all Africans was promoted.

Encouraged by the Pan-Africanists, Hutu advocates in the Catholic Church, and by Christian
Belgians (who were increasingly influential in the Congo), Hutu resentment of the Tutsi
increased. The United Nations mandates, the Tutsi elite class, and the Belgian colonialists added
to the growing unrest. Grégoire Kayibanda, the founder of PARMEHUTU, led the Hutu
"emancipation" movement. In 1957, he wrote the "Hutu Manifesto". His party quickly became
militarized. In reaction, in 1959 the Tutsi formed the UNAR party, lobbying for immediate
independence for Ruanda-Urundi, to be based on the existing Tutsi monarchy. This group also
became militarized. Skirmishes began between UNAR and PARMEHUTU groups. In July 1959,
when the Tutsi Mwami (King) Mutara III Charles died following a routine vaccination, some
Tutsi thought he had been assassinated. His younger half-brother became the next Tutsi
monarch, Mwami (King) Kigeli V.

In November 1959, Tutsis tried to assassinate Kayibanda. Rumors of the death of Hutu politician
Dominique Mbonyumutwa at the hands of Tutsis, who had beaten him, set off a violent
retaliation, called the wind of destruction. Hutus killed an estimated 20,000 to 100,000 Tutsi;
thousands more, including the Mwami, fled to neighboring Uganda before Belgian commandos
arrived to quell the violence. Tutsi leaders accused the Belgians of abetting the Hutus. A UN
special commission reported racism reminiscent of "Nazism" against the Tutsi minorities, and
discriminatory actions by the government and Belgian authorities.

The revolution of 1959 marked a major change in political life in Rwanda. Some 150,000 Tutsis
were exiled to neighbouring countries. Tutsis who remained in Rwanda were excluded from
political power in a state becoming more centralized under Hutu power. Tutsi refugees also fled
to the South Kivu province of the Congo, where they were known as Banyamalenge.
In 1960, the Belgian government agreed to hold democratic municipal elections in Ruanda-
Urundi. The Hutu majority elected Hutu representatives. Such changes ended the Tutsi
monarchy, which had existed for centuries. A Belgian effort to create an independent Ruanda-
Urundi with Tutsi-Hutu power sharing failed, largely due to escalating violence. At the urging of
the UN, the Belgian government divided Ruanda-Urundi into two separate countries, Rwanda
and Burundi.

Independence
On 25 September 1961, a referendum was held to establish whether Rwanda should become a
republic or remain a kingdom. Citizens voted overwhelmingly for a republic. After parliamentary
elections held on the same day, the first Rwandese Republic was declared, with Kayibanda as
prime minister. Mbonyumutwa was named the first president of the transitional government.

Between 1961 and 1962, Tutsi guerrilla groups staged attacks into Rwanda from neighboring
countries. Rwandan Hutu-based troops responded, and thousands more were killed in the
clashes. On 1 July 1962, Belgium, with UN oversight, granted full independence to the two
countries. Rwanda was created as a republic governed by the majority MDR-Parmehutu, which
had gained full control of national politics. In 1963, a Tutsi guerrilla invasion into Rwanda from
Burundi unleashed another anti-Tutsi backlash by the Hutu government; their forces killed an
estimated 14,000 people. The economic union between Rwanda and Burundi was dissolved and
tensions between the two countries worsened. Rwanda became a Hutu-dominated one-party
state. In excess of 70,000 people had been killed.[citation needed]

Kayibanda became Rwanda's first elected president, leading a government chosen from the
membership of the directly elected unicameral National Assembly. Peaceful negotiation of
international problems, social and economic elevation of the masses, and integrated development
of Rwanda were the ideals of the Kayibanda regime. He established formal relations with 43
countries, including the United States, in the first ten years. Despite the progress made,
inefficiency and corruption developed in government ministries in the mid-1960s.

The Kayibanda administration established quotas to try to increase the number of Hutu in
schools and the civil service. This effort ended up penalizing the Tutsi. They were allowed only
nine percent of secondary school and university seats, which was their proportion of the
population. The quotas also extended to the civil service. With unemployment high, competition
for such opportunities increased ethnic tensions. The Kayibanda government also continued the
Belgian colonial government's policy of requiring ethnic identity cards, and it discouraged
"mixed" marriages.
Following more violence in 1964, the government suppressed political opposition. It banned the
political parties UNAR and RADER and executed Tutsi members. Hutu militants used the term
inyenzi (cockroaches) as a pejorative to describe Tutsi rebels for what was perceived as
infiltrating the country. Hundreds of thousands of refugees moved to neighbouring countries.

The Catholic Church was closely involved with Parmehutu, and they shared local resources and
networks. Through the church, the government maintained links with supporters in Belgium and
Germany. The country's two newspapers supported the government and were Catholic
publications.

Military Rule
On July 5, 1973, Defence Minister Maj. Gen. Juvénal Habyarimana overthrew Kayibanda. He
suspended the constitution, dissolved the National Assembly and imposed a strict ban on all
political activity.

Initially, Habyarimana abolished the quota system, winning him favour among Tutsi. However,
this didn't last. In 1974, a public outcry developed over Tutsi over-representation in professional
fields such as medicine and education. Thousands of Tutsi were forced to resign from such
positions, and many were forced into exile. In associated violence, several hundred Tutsi were
killed. Gradually, Habyarimana reimposed many of his predecessor's policies favouring Hutu
over Tutsi.

In 1975, President Habyarimana formed the National Revolutionary Movement for Development
(MRND) whose goals were to promote peace, unity, and national development. The movement
was organized from the "hillside" to the national level and included elected and appointed
officials.

Under MRND aegis, a new constitution making the party a one-party state under the MRND was
approved in a referendum in December 1978. These were shortly followed by presidential
elections a few weeks later. Habyarimana, as president of the MRND, was the only candidate on
the ballot. He was re-elected in 1983 and again in 1988, each time as sole candidate. However,
in a minor concession to democracy, voters were given a choice of two MRND candidates in
elections to the National Assembly. Responding to public pressure for political reform, President
Habyarimana announced in July 1990 his intention to transform Rwanda's one-party state into a
multi-party democracy.
Civil War
Many exiled refugee Rwandan Tutsis in Uganda had joined the rebel forces of Yoweri Museveni
in the Ugandan Bush War and had then become part of the Ugandan military upon the rebel
victory in 1986. Among these were Fred Rwigyema and Paul Kagame, who rose to prominence in
the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), a Rwandan rebel group largely consisting of Tutsi veterans of
the Ugandan war. On October 1, 1990, the RPF invaded Rwanda from their base in neighboring
Uganda. The rebel force, composed primarily of ethnic Tutsis, blamed the government for failing
to democratize and resolve the problems of some 500,000 Tutsi refugees living in diaspora
around the world.

The Tutsi diaspora miscalculated the reaction of its invasion of Rwanda. Though the Tutsi
objective seemed to be to pressure the Rwandan government into making concessions, the
invasion was seen as an attempt to bring the Tutsi ethnic group back into power. The effect was
to increase ethnic tensions to a level higher than they had ever been. Nevertheless, after 3 years
of fighting and multiple prior "cease-fires," the government and the RPF signed a "final" cease-
fire agreement in August 1993, known as the Arusha Accords, in order to form a power-sharing
government, a plan which immediately ran into problems.

The situation worsened when the first elected Burundian president, Melchior Ndadaye, a Hutu,
was assassinated by the Burundian Tutsi-dominated army in October 1993. In Burundi, a fierce
civil war then erupted between Tutsi and Hutu following the army's massacre. This conflict
spilled over the border into Rwanda and destabilized the fragile Rwandan accords. Tutsi-Hutu
tensions rapidly intensified. Although the UN sent a peacekeeping force named the United
Nations Assistance Mission for Rwanda (UNAMIR), it was underfunded, under-staffed, and
largely ineffective in the face of a two-country civil-war. The UN denied Lieutenant-General
Roméo Dallaire's request for additional troops and changes to the rules of engagement to prevent
the coming genocide.

The Rwandan Genocide

On April 6, 1994, the airplane carrying Juvénal Habyarimana, the President of Rwanda, and
Cyprien Ntaryamira, the Hutu President of Burundi, was shot down as it prepared to land at
Kigali. Both presidents were killed when the plane crashed.

Military and militia groups began rounding up and killing Tutsis en masse, as well as political
moderates irrespective of their ethnic backgrounds. The killing swiftly spread from Kigali to all
corners of the country; between April 6 and the beginning of July, a genocide of unprecedented
swiftness left between 500,000 and 1,000,000 Tutsis (800,000 is a commonly noted number) and
moderate Hutus dead at the hands of organized bands of militia (Interahamwe). Local officials,
in order to kill their neighboring Tutsis who were called Inkotanyi - Cockroaches by the local
radio stations inciting fear and hatred, called on even ordinary citizens. The president's MRND
Party was implicated in organizing many aspects of the genocide. The Hutu genocidaires were
abetted by the Radio Télévision Libre des Mille Collines broadcasting hate speech advocating
violence against Tutsis. It broadcast at the same time as Radio Muhabura broadcast from
Uganda, sponsored by the RPF and their Ugandan allies.

The RPF renewed its civil war against the Rwanda Hutu government when it received word that
the genocidal massacres had begun. Its leader Paul Kagame directed RPF forces in neighboring
countries such as Uganda and Tanzania to invade the country, but here, Paul Kagame did not
direct RPF Forces from neighboring countries because RPF was already in Rwanda for three
years and a half battling the Hutu forces and Interahamwe militias who were committing the
massacres. The resulting civil war raged concurrently with the genocide for two months. The
Tutsi-led RPF continued to advance on the capital, and soon occupied the northern, eastern, and
southern parts of the country by June. Thousands of additional civilians were killed in the
conflict. UN member states refused to answer UNAMIR's requests for increased troops and
money. France, in Operation Turquoise, occupied the remaining part of the country not under
RPF control. While the French operation did prevent mass killings it has been alleged that the
deployment of French troops was intended to allow the Hutu militias to escape and that the
slaughter of Tutsis continued in the French controlled area.

Aftermath and Peace

Between July and August 1994, Kagame's Tutsi-led RPF troops first entered Kigali and soon
thereafter captured the rest of the country. The Tutsi rebels defeated the Hutu regime and
ended the genocide, but approximately two million Hutu refugees - some who participated in
the genocide and fearing Tutsi retribution - fled to neighboring Burundi, Tanzania, Uganda, and
Zaire. This exodus became known as the Great Lakes refugee crisis.

After the Tutsi RPF took control of the government, in 1994, Kagame formed a government of
national unity headed by a Hutu president, Pasteur Bizimungu. Kagame became Minister of
Defence and Vice-President and was the de facto leader of the country.

Following an uprising by the ethnic Tutsi, sometimes referred to as a whole as Banyamulenge

(although this term only represents people from one area in eastern Zaire—other ethnic Tutsi
Kinyarwanda-speaking people include the Banyamasisi and the Banyarutshuru, as an example)
people in eastern Zaire in October 1997, a huge movement of refugees began which brought
more than 600,000 back to Rwanda in the last two weeks of November. This massive
repatriation was followed at the end of December 1996 by the return of another 500,000 from
Tanzania, again in a huge, spontaneous wave. Less than 100,000 Rwandans are estimated to
remain outside of Rwanda, and they are thought to be the remnants of the defeated army of the
former genocidal government, its allies in the civilian militias known as Interahamwe, and
soldiers recruited in the refugee camps before 1996. There are also many innocent Hutu who
remain in the forests of eastern Congo, particularly Rutshuru, Masisi and Bukavu, who have been
misinformed by rebel forces that they will be killed upon return to Rwanda. Rebels also use force
to prevent these people from returning, as they serve as a human shield.

In northwest Rwanda, Hutu militia members killed three Spanish aid workers, three soldiers and
seriously wounded one other on January 18, 1997. Since then, most of the refugees have
returned and the country is secure for tourists.

Rwandan coffee began to gain importance after international taste tests pronounced it among
the best in the world, and the U.S. responded with a contribution of 8 million dollars. Rwanda
now earns some revenue from coffee and tea export, although it has been difficult to compete
with larger coffee-producing countries. The main source of revenue, however, is tourism, mainly
mountain gorilla visitation. Their other parks, Nyungwe Forest (one of the last high-altitude
tropical forests in the world) and Akagera National Park (a safari game park) have also become
popular on the tourism circuit. The lakeside resorts of Gisenyi and Kibuye are also gaining
ground.

When Bizimungu became critical of the Kagame government in 2000, he was removed as
president and Kagame took over the presidency himself. Bizimungu immediately founded an
opposition party (the PDR), but the Kagame government banned it. Bizimungu was arrested in
2002 for treason, sentenced to 15 years in prison, but released by a presidential pardon in 2007.

The postwar government has placed a high priority on development, opening water taps in the
most remote areas, providing free and compulsory education, and promulgating progressive
environmental policies. Their Vision 2020 development policy has the aim of achieving a service-
based society by 2020, with a significant middle class. There is remarkably little corruption in the
country.

Hutu Rwandan genocidal leaders are on trial at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda,
in the Rwandan National Court system, and, most recently, through the informal Gacaca
program. Recent reports highlight a number of reprisal killings of survivors for giving evidence
at Gacaca. These Gacaca trials are overseen by the government established the National Unity
and Reconciliation Commission. Gacaca is a traditional adjudication mechanism at the
umudugudu (village) level, whereby members of the community elect elders to serve as judges,
and the entire community is present for the case. This system was modified to try lower-level
génocidaires, those who had killed or stolen but did not organize massacres. Prisoners, dressed
in pink, stand trial before members of their community. Judges accord sentences, which vary
widely, from returning to prison, to paying back the cost of goods stolen, to working in the
fields of families of victims. Gacaca is expected to conclude in December 2008. For many, Gacaca
has been a vehicle for closure, and prisoners' testimonies have helped many families locate
victims. Gacaca takes place once a week in the morning in every village across Rwanda and is
compulsory.

Ethnicity has been formally outlawed in Rwanda, in the effort to promote a culture of healing
and unity. One can stand trial for discussion of the different ethnic groups.

Rwanda has become a President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) focus country, and
the United States has been providing AIDS programming, education, training, and treatment.
Rwandans who have been infected can now receive free antiretroviral drugs in health centers
across the country, as well as food packages.