The genocide of Rwanda started on April 6,1994. For the next 100 days 800,000 Tutsi's were killed by the Hutu militia. 10,000 people could be killed a day. The Tutsi's were killed with clubs and machetes. In 1990 a rebel army invaded Rwanda. This forced Hutu President Juvenal Habyalimana into signing an accord which mandated that the Hutu's and Tutsis would share power. United Nations peacekeeping sent over 2,500 multinational soldiers to Rwanda to preserve the fragile cease-fire between the Hutu government and the Tutsi rebels. Peace was threatened by Hutu extremists. They were violently opposed to sharing any power with the Tutsis. Rwandan President Habyalimana and Burundi's new President, Cyprien Ntaryamira, held several peace meetings with Tutsi rebels. On there way back there jet was shot down from a ground missile. This is why Hutu extremists began targeting prominent opposition figures who were on their death-lists, including moderate Hutu politicians and Tutsi leaders.
The killings happened in the country side. Tutis's were killed by Hutu militia with machetes, clubs, guns and grenades. Everyone had to carry Identity cards. It had there ethnic background and a practice left over from colonial days. These cards were a matter of life and death. Small U.N. peacekeeping force was overwhelmed as terrified Tutsi families and moderate politicians sought protection. Among Peacekeepers were ten soldiers from Belgium who were captured by the Hutus, tortured and murdered. Thus resulting in the United States, France, Belgium, and Italy all began evacuating their own personnel from Rwanda. No effort was made to have the Tutsi evacuated. U.N headquarters in New York, the killings were initially categorized as a breakdown in the cease-fire between the Tutsi and Hutu. Throughout the massacre, both the U.N. and the U.S. carefully refrained from labeling the killings as genocide, which would have necessitated some kind of emergency intervention. In the U.N headquarters in New York, the killings were initially categorized as a breakdown in the cease-fire between the Tutsi and Hutu. Throughout the massacre, both the U.N. and the U.S. carefully refrained from labeling the killings as genocide, which would have necessitated some kind of emergency intervention. The U.N. Security Council responded to the worsening crisis by voting unanimously to abandon Rwanda. The remainder of U.N. peacekeeping troops were pulled out, leaving behind a only tiny force of about 200 soldiers for the entire country.The U.N. Security Council responded to the worsening crisis by voting unanimously to abandon Rwanda. The remainder of U.N. peacekeeping troops were pulled out, leaving behind a only tiny force of about 200 soldiers for the entire country.
In local villages militiamen forced Hutus to kill their Tutsi neighbors or face a death sentence for there family and themselves. They also forced Tutsis to kill members of their own families.By mid May, an estimated 500,000 Tutsis had been killed. Bodies were now commonly seen floating down the Kigara River into Lake Victoria.Confronted with international TV news reports depicting genocide, the U.N. Security Council voted to send up to 5,000 soldiers to Rwanda. However, the Security Council failed to establish any timetable and thus never sent the troops in time to stop the massacre.The killings only ended after armed Tutsi rebels, invading from neighboring countries, managed to defeat the Hutus and halt the genocide in July 1994. By then, over one-tenth of the population, an estimated 800,000 persons, had been killed.
I think this is very sad. It is very heart breaking to know that people had to kill there loved ones to stay alive. And then one-tenth of the population was killed off! 7 million people lived in Rwanda before this genocide happened. I think the U.N. should have done something to help the Tutsis. I hope something like this never happens again.
The difference between Tutsi and Hutu
Victoria river in 1994
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Well done!