Rwanda

Conflict in East Africa• By 1970’s most of East Africa had gained

independence from European countries.

• East African nations not prepared for independence

• Boundaries forced cultural divisions among different ethnicities

• Genocide = the systematic and planned extermination of an entire national, racial, political, or ethnic group

• Some 800,000 Rwandans were slaughtered in just 100 days during the 1994 genocide. The Rwandan government and the United Nations are trying to bring those responsible to justice

How did the genocide happen?

• Rwanda was divided between ethnic Hutus, who made up 85% of the population and the Tutsi minority which formed the traditional elite. (upper class)

• In 1994, the Hutu government was desperately trying to stop the advance of the Tutsi rebels

• A plane carrying the Hutu president was shot down. Within hours, some members of the government organized Hutu militias across the country to systematically kill Tutsis.

• Checkpoints were set up at which anyone whose identity card showed they were Tutsi was killed; either shot or more often hacked to death with machetes

• Neighbors killed neighbors and those moderate Hutus who refused to take part were also slaughtered. Even nuns and priests have been found guilty of taking part in the genocide.

What did the international community do?

• The world did little to stop the massacres

• The UN set up an international court to try the ringleaders; however it has been said to be inefficient, and corrupt.

• These trials did not begin until March of 2005, more than a decade after the genocides

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9e/Rwanda_genocide_wanted_poster_2-20-03.jpg

• To help the world know what happened in Rwanda a film was made in 2004, Hotel Rwanda. It is the story of the genocides and how Paul Rusesabagina, a manager of an elegant colonial hotel saved more than 1,200 people from certain death.