We rarely think of “Genocide” as a modern event. It’s what happened to the Armenians in World War I at the hands of the Turks, and the Jewish Holocaust in World War II at the hands of the Nazis. But the Rwanda Genocide happened just 25 years ago. In 1994, in just 100 gruesome days, nearly 1,000,000 Rwandans were slaughtered by ethnic Hutu extremists. They targeted the minority Tutsi community, as well as any unlucky sympathizers in the East African nation.
Instigated by Hutu nationalists in the capital of Kigali, the genocide spread through the country like a wildfire, with shocking brutality. “Hutu Power” militias incited ordinary citizens to take up arms against their own Tutsi neighbors. By the time the Rwanda Patriotic Front (RPF) finally managed to gain control of the country in July, nearly a million Rwandans laid dead. 2 Million Hutu, now refugees, had fled the country.
How could genocide have happened in modern times?
Rwanda is a small, central African nation, about the size of Denmark, located just south of the Equator. Its neighbors are the Democratic Republic of Congo to the west, Uganda to the north, Tanzania to the east, and Burundi to the south. In 1994, the population was about 7 million, 85 percent the Hutu ethnic group and 15 percent the Tutsi minority. It was also one of the most densely populated countries in all of Africa and also one of the most volatile.
In 1918 after World War I, the League of Nations made Rwanda a Belgium Trusteeship. During this colonial period, the Belgians favored the educated Tutsi minority over the Hutus, causing decades of deep seated resentment. A Hutu nationalist revolution in 1959 forced over 300,000 Tutsis to flee to neighboring countries, making them an even smaller minority in Rwanda. After a United Nations referendum, Belgium finally granted Rwanda independence in 1962.
Ethnic and class violence continued in Rwanda, even following independence. The Tutsis in Rwanda were now discriminated against as inferior people by the new Hutu-controlled government. Ironically, they all were black, spoke the same Bantu language, and practiced the same Christian religions, established while they were a Belgian colony.
The Belgians had instituted identity cards, clearly stating one’s ethnic group.
In 1973, a military coup placed Hutu General Juvenal Habyarimana, in power. He was the sole leader of Rwanda for the next 20 years. Habyarimana founded the National Revolutionary Movement for Development (NRMD) party. He was easily reelected in 1983 and 1988 as Habyarimana made sure he was the only candidate on the ballot.
In 1990, the Rwanda Patriotic Front (RPF), consisting of armed Tutsi rebels, invaded from Uganda, causing a two year civil war. A ceasefire in 1992 led to negotiations between the NRMD and the RPF. Just a year before the genocide, Habyarimana agreed to a new government that would include the RPF. The United Nations established the Assistance Mission for Rwanda (UNAMIR) to assist in the implementation.
This compromise only infuriated Hutu extremists. Coupled with decades of discrimination and hatred, it lit the fuse of genocide. On April 6, 1994, a plane carrying General Habyarimana was shot down over Kigali, leaving no survivors. Who were the culprits? Hutu extremists quickly blamed the RPF and immediately started a campaign of killing Tutsis in Kigali. The RPF blamed the Hutus, saying they shot down the plane to provide an excuse for the killings.
Within an hour of the crash, Hutu members of the Rwandan Armed Forces (FAR) and 2 Hutu militia groups, the Interahamwe and Impuzamugambi, set up armed barricades throughout the capital Kigali. They then started killing Tutsis … and moderate , sympathetic Hutus. The next day, the Hutu military assassinated moderate Hutu Prime Minister Uwilingiyimana and 10 Belgian Peacekeepers. This left a huge political vacuum, into which extremist “Hutu Power” militia leaders quickly stepped in.
The killing of UN Peacekeepers provoked Belgium to withdraw nearly all its UN troops.
From an international standpoint, Rwandan was now on its own. The mass killings in Kigali by Hutus quickly spread into a wholescale slaughter of Tutsi civilians in the countryside. Armed by the NRMD, the Interahamwe, young ‘Hutu Power’ men, were the blood-thirsty maniacs behind the genocide. Those ID cards had people’s ethnic group stamped on them, so it was all too easy.
Hutu extremists set up a radio station, Radio Télévision Libre des Mille Collines (RTLM), which broadcast daily hate propaganda, urging Hutus to “Squash the (Tutsi) Cockroaches.” The names of prominent Tutsis, and Hutu sympathizers, to be killed were read out loud. Radio commentators reminded the Hutus of the discrimination they suffered under the elite Tutsis. They called on all Hutu civilians to arm themselves and murder their Tutsi neighbors.
“All Tutsis must perish! They will vanish from this country of ours.”
Rwanda RTLM radio broadcast, 1994
By April 18th, in just two weeks, they’d killed most anyone who dared resist. Any other Hutu opponents fell quickly silent out of fear, allowing the killings of their neighbors to proceed. The military handed out long lists of Tutsi names to the Hutu Power militia. The militia leaders rewarded their ruthless killing squads with booze, drugs, money and women.
Hutu militiamen with long machetes slaughtered entire Tutsi families. Militias went house to house. They dragged them out screaming for mercy, and hacked them to death in the streets. They murdered women, and even children and elderly in their homes, leaving the bloodied corpses behind. Mutilated bodies were left to rot in the streets and houses. The long-bladed machete became the feared Rwandan symbol of genocide.
The genocide was supported by the Hutu army and government. Civilian Hutus willingly or fearfully collaborated. They handed over their Tutsis or moderate Hutu neighbors, anyone who showed sympathy. And neighbors killed their neighbors. Some Hutu husbands murdered their Tutsi wives, saying they’d be killed if they refused. Even some Hutu clergy killed Tutsis who took shelter in their churches.
“You cockroaches are made of flesh. We will kill you. The graves are not yet full!”
Rwanda RTLM radio broadcast, 1994
Where was the rest of the world while this massacre was occurring? Unlike the earlier genocides of the 20th century, the Rwanda genocide was broadcast internationally on television. Journalists and reporters from dozens of networks and newspapers covered the events daily, including the BBC, CNN, Washington Post and New York Times. So the world knew of this genocide from its first day to its last.
After a year of losing troops in the Somalian civil war, the U.S. elected not to get involved in another bloody African conflict. Despite the glaring press it received, the Clinton Administration avoided calling the massacre a “Genocide” to evade involvement. They said there were no U.S. interests in Rwanda, so it was not their place to interfere, massacre or not.
U.S. Military intervention was never on the table.
The international community as well largely watched from the sidelines. Despite UNAMIR’s warnings, the UN Security Council voted in April not to intervene, and instead pulled their forces out. Almost overnight, 4,500 UNAMIR Peacekeepers still on the ground in Kigali were reduced to a mere 260. They could provide the Tutsi no protection and gave the Hutu’s free reign to continue the slaughter.
Not until over half a million Rwandans had been slaughtered, did the UN finally recognize that “Acts of Genocide” had been committed. The Security Council voted a month later in May 1994 to resupply more than 5,500 UN troops. This was delayed, however due to arguments over the costs and who would pay for it. By the time the UN force could mobilize and arrive, the genocide was all but over.
“In their greatest hour of need, the world failed the people of Rwanda.”
Kofi Annan, UN Secretary General
The Tutsi RPF resumed fighting, so a Civil War raged alongside the genocide. 100 bloody days later, on July 4th, the RPF forces finally stormed and gained control over Kigali and most of country. Now more than 2 million Hutus fled Rwanda for fear of Tutsi reprisals. They crowded into refugee camps in neighboring Congo, Burundi and Tanzania. They left behind almost a million Tutsi corpses. Macheted bodies lay everywhere – in the streets, in the ditches, and in their homes.
In just 3 months, by the end of the 100-day killing spree, over 900,000 had been slaughtered. An estimated 250,000 Tutsi women were raped, murdered, or taken away as sex slaves. It’s estimated that nearly 100,000 children were orphaned, abducted or abandoned.
Human rights groups say Tutsi RPF fighters, as they took power, next killed thousands of Hutu militia in retaliation. The RPF denies this to this day. They established a coalition government with a Hutu president and a Tutsi VP, RFP leader Paul Kagame. General Habyarimana’s NRMD party was outlawed. Now, they faced the enormous task of dealing with the bodies of almost 1 million victims.
Mass graves were dug and quickly filled in every town and city.
After the RFP victory, UNAMIR finally returned. They remaining there for 2 years, as one of the largest humanitarian relief efforts in world history. Due to worsening conditions in the Congo and Tanzania refugee camps, more than a million Hutu refugees returned home to Rwanda by 1997. 25% of the Rwandan people still suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) due to living through the genocide.
The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) was established as an extension of The Hague World Court. It was the first international tribunal since the post-WWII Nazi Nuremburg Trials. 12,000 Gacaca community courts met weekly in towns across Rwanda, trying more than 1.2 million cases of the Rwanda Genocide. Their aim was to achieve both justice and reconciliation among Rwandans.
A new constitution in 2003 eliminated any reference to Hutu or Tutsi ethnicity. This was followed by Paul Kagame’s election as President, and the first-ever legislative elections in the country’s history. He was re-elected in 2010 and again in 2017 by wide margins. Genocide Trials continued over the next 15 years. The Tribunal indicted 93 Hutus leaders and convicted 62 of war crimes and acts of genocide.
What about Rwanda since then? The Tribunal closed at the end of 2015. President Kagame has been hailed for transforming the devastated country by encouraging economic growth, including better healthcare and technological. But his critics say he is also a repressive dictator and does not tolerate dissent or political opposition.
The Oscar nominated 2004 movie, HOTEL RWANDA, depicts the efforts of Kigali Hutu Paul Rusesabagina, manager of the Belgian owned Hôtel des Mille Collines. His wife is a Tutsi and he manages to shelter other Tutsi refugees in his 4 star hotel. He negotiated with the militia to keep them alive until they could be safely evacuated by a UN convoy.
So, could such an atrocity happen again TODAY, elsewhere on earth, with the world watching? Say, in a deeply divided country, with decades of resentment between opposing sides. Half the population angry and heavily armed, just waiting for the seeds of Hatred & Fear to be planted. Then a single spark to ignite the flame of deadly violence yet again. Sadly … yes.
Hard to believe that the world would stand by and let the situation unfold in Rwanda. With no economic interests there it wasn’t worth the effort to do the right thing. I remember Clinton saying it was his biggest regret not stepping in to help. Learning nothing from history it was easy for racism to happen in letting the “Dark Continent” fend for itself. Rwanda was another example of European interference in creating unmanageable situations to unfold. And yes, the blood wind still calls around the globe and is answered by those who seek to use it to their advantage.