In 1994 Rwanda began to have some major issues within its country. It all began on April 6, 1994 when Tutsi's president, Juvénal Habyarimana, and Hutu's president Cyprien Ntaryamira, were assasinated. This sparked a mass genocide between the Tutsi's and the Hutu's. The Tutsi's are one of three native peoples of the nations of Rwanda and Burundi in central Africa and Hutu's are a Central African ethnic group, living mainly in Rwanda and Burundi. The Tutsi's and the Hutu's have never really gotten along. In 1990 a civil war broke out amongst the Tutsis and the Hutus. The Rwandan Patriotic front, which is a rebal group of many tutsis, atacked northern Rwanda.Before the Genocide had even occured many people had been planning it and it became very well organized. Many Hutu people and politicians wanted to eliminate the Tutsi population. They believe getting rid of the Tutsi's would solve the countries problems. Rwandas millitia had about 30,000 members. For every ten families there was a millita member. Every Tutsi and every Hutu was giving ID cards to identify their ethnicity, even though many people can figure that out by looking at their skin color. Tutsi's are are lighter colored and Hutu's are darker. Tutsi people were treated cruely. Men, women and children were all seperated. They called Tutsi women "gypsies", they were used for sexual abuse. The women victims were either raped, gang raped, or forced to sexual slavery. This abuse usually ended up with the victims death. Even women pregnant were raped. I personally think that that is wrong. Nobody should be treated that inhumanly no matter what. It seems to me that women always get treated the worst in these situations.When the genoocide began the millitary and Hutu's millita set out to kill every Tutsi they could find. Their ages, sex, etc.. didnt matter. If you were Tutsi you were killed. National radio broadcasts advised people to stay in their homes and to try not to be seen. Many people still fleaded their homes inorder to reach safety. The millita set up hundereds of road blocks everywhere to block off people from leaving the country. About 500,000 to 1,000,000 people were executed. That was about 20% of the population gone in about 100 days.Most of the victims were killed by their own neighbors! The Millitia killed victims by thrusting their machetes to their bodies. Some used rifles but most used machetes. The Hutu's usually found their victims inside churches and schools which made the killing for the Hutu's easy. Whats sad is that many many children were inside those buildings.This genocide is as bad as the Holocaust. I really dont understand why people cant just accept ones differences? Why must we all be the same?
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