The 1994 Rwandan Genocide is a campaign of massacres of Tutsi and moderate Hutus by Hutus. And also the massacres of the Hutu by the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) Tutsi. On the Hutu side, they were carried out by the paramilitaries of the Hutu extremists "Interahamwe" and "Impuzamugambi" in Rwanda with the active support of sympathizers from among ordinary citizens with the knowledge and instructions of the country's authorities. The number of those killed in 100 days exceeded 800 thousand people, of which approximately 10% were Hutu. From the side of the Tutsis, the RPF and probably the militarized formations of the Tutsis were carried out. The number of killed Hutu is about 200 thousand people.
The murder rate was five times the rate of murder in German concentration camps during World War II. The Tutsi assassinations were ended with the advance of the Rwandan Tutsi Patriotic Front.
Promotional video:
Rwandan society has traditionally consisted of two castes: the privileged minority of the Tutsi people and the overwhelming majority of the Hutu people, although a number of researchers express doubts about the advisability of dividing Tutsis and Hutu along ethnic lines and indicate the fact that during the period of Belgian control over Rwanda, the decision to assign a particular citizen in Tutsi or Hutu it was carried out on the basis of property.
Tutsi and Hutu speak the same language, but theoretically they have noticeable racial differences, greatly smoothed out by many years of assimilation. The status quo remained until 1959, but as a result of the period of riots, the Hutus gained administrative control. In a period of heightened economic difficulties, which coincided with the intensification of the Tutsi-based insurgency, known as the Rwandan Patriotic Front, in 1990, the demonization of Tutsis began in the media, especially in the newspaper Kangura (Awake!), Published all kinds of speculation about a worldwide Tutsi conspiracy, the brutality of the RPF fighters was emphasized, and some reports were deliberately fabricated, like the case of a Hutu woman beaten to death with hammers in 1993 or the capture of Tutsi spies near the Burundian border.
Chronicle
On April 6, 1994, while approaching Kigali from MANPADS, an airplane was shot down on which Rwandan President Juvenal Habyarimana and Burundi President Ntariamira were flying. The plane was returning from Tanzania, where both presidents attended an international conference.
Prime Minister Agatha Uwilingiyimana was killed the next day, April 7. On the morning of this day, 10 Belgian and 5 Ghanaian UN peacekeepers who were guarding the house of the Prime Minister were surrounded by soldiers of the Rwandan Presidential Guard. After a short confrontation, the Belgian military received an order by radio from their commander to obey the demands of the attackers and lay down their arms. Seeing that the peacekeepers guarding her were disarmed, Prime Minister Uwilingiyimana, with her husband, children and several accompanying people, tried to hide in the territory of the American embassy. However, soldiers and militants of the youth branch of the ruling party known as Interahamwe found and brutally murdered the Prime Minister, her wife and several others. Miraculously, only her children survived, hidden by one of the UN employees.
The fate of the surrendered Belgian UN soldiers was also decided by the militants, whose leadership considered it necessary to neutralize the peacekeeping contingent and chose the method of reprisals against members of the contingent, which proved to be effective in Somalia. Militants "Interahamwe" initially suspected the Belgian contingent of UN forces of "sympathy" for the Tutsis. In addition, in the past, Rwanda was a colony of Belgium and many were not averse to reckoning with the former "colonialists". According to eyewitnesses, the brutalized militants first castrated all the Belgians, then shoved the severed genitals into their mouths and, after brutal torture and abuse, shot them
State radio and a private station affiliated with it, known as the Thousand Hills (Radio Television Libre des Mille Collines), fueled the situation with calls for the murder of Tutsis and read out lists of potentially dangerous persons, burgomasters in the field organized work to identify and kill them. Using administrative methods, ordinary citizens were also involved in organizing the massacre campaign, and many Tutsis were killed by their neighbors. The murder weapon was mainly a cold weapon (machete). The most violent scenes were played out in places of temporary concentration of refugees in schools and churches.
1994, April 11 - The murder of 2,000 Tutsis at the Don Bosco school (Kigali), after the evacuation of the Belgian peacekeepers.
1994, April 21 - The International Red Cross reports the possible executions of hundreds of thousands of civilians.
1994, April 22 - Massacre of 5,000 Tutsis at Sowu Monastery.
The United States did not intervene in the conflict, fearing a repeat of the 1993 events in Somalia.
1994, July 4 - Detachments of the Rwandan Patriotic Front entered the capital. 2 million Hutu, fearing who would pay for the genocide (there were 30 thousand people in the paramilitary forces), and most of the genocide by the Tutsis, left the country.
Wanted poster from Rwanda.
International Tribunal for Crimes in Rwanda
In November 1994, the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda was launched in Tanzania. Among those under investigation are the organizers and inspirers of the mass extermination of Rwandan citizens in the spring of 1994, among whom are mainly former officials of the ruling regime. In particular, a life sentence was passed to former Prime Minister Jean Kambanda for crimes against humanity. Among the proven episodes was the encouragement of misanthropic propaganda by the state radio station RTLM, calling for the destruction of Tutsi citizens.
In December 1999, George Rutaganda was sentenced to life imprisonment, in 1994 he headed the detachments of "Interahamwe" ("the youth wing" of the then ruling Republican National Movement for the Development of Democracy Party). In October 1995, Rutagande was arrested.
On September 1, 2003, the case of Emmanuel Ndindabhizi, who was the Minister of Finance of Rwanda in 1994, was tried. According to the police, he is involved in the mass murder of people in Kibuye Prefecture. E. Ndindabahizi personally gave orders to kill, distributed weapons to Hutu volunteers and was present during attacks and beatings. According to witnesses, he stated: “A lot of Tutsis are walking here, why don't you kill them?”, “You kill Tutsi women who are married to Hutu? … Go and kill them. They can poison you."
The role of the international tribunal in Rwanda is assessed ambiguously, since the trials in it are very lengthy, and the defendants cannot be punished with the death penalty. For trials of persons who have not fallen under the jurisdiction of the tribunal, which considers only the most important organizers of the genocide, the country has created a system of local courts that has passed at least 100 death sentences.
Prime Minister Agatha Uwilingiyimana, was five months pregnant when she was killed at her residence. The rebels ripped open her stomach.
Mukarurinda Alice, 43, who lost her entire family and hand in the massacres, lives with the man who injured her.
Alfonsina Mukamfizi, 42, who miraculously survived the genocide, the rest of her family were killed.
R. S
Paul Kagame, President of Rwanda, is loved here because he was the leader of the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), which seized power in the country in 1994 as a result of the civil war and stopped the genocide of the Tutsi tribe.
After the RPF came to power, Kagame was the Minister of Defense, but in fact it was he who led the country. Then in 2000 he was elected president, in 2010 he was elected for a second term. He miraculously managed to restore the strength and economy of the country. For example, since 2005, the country's GDP has doubled, and the country's population is 100% provided with food. Technology began to develop rapidly and the government was able to attract many foreign investors to the country. Kagame has actively fought corruption and has strengthened state power structures well. He developed trade ties with neighboring countries and signed a common market agreement with them. Under his rule, women ceased to be infringed on their rights and began to participate in the political life of the country.
Most of the population is proud of their president, but there are those who fear and criticize him. The problem is that the opposition has practically disappeared in the country. That is, it did not completely disappear, but simply many of its representatives ended up in prison. There were also reports that during the 2010 election campaign, some people were killed or arrested - this is also associated with political confrontation with the president. By the way, in 2010, in addition to Kagame, three more people from different parties participated in the elections, and he then talked a lot about the fact that there are free elections in Rwanda and that citizens themselves have the right to choose their fate. But here, too, critics noted that these three parties provide great support to the president and that the three new candidates are his good friends.
Be that as it may, last December in Rwanda a referendum was held on constitutional amendments that would give Kagama the right to be elected president for a third seven-year term, and then for another two terms of five years. The amendments were adopted by 98% of the vote. New elections will be held next year.
In 2000, when Kagame became president, the Rwandan parliament adopted the Vision 2020 program for the country's development. Its goal is to transform Rwanda into a middle-class technology country, eradicate poverty, improve healthcare and unite the people. Kagame began developing the program in the late 90s. In compiling it, he and his associates relied on the experience of China, Singapore and Thailand. These are the main points of the program: effective management, a high level of education and health care, the development of information technologies, the development of infrastructure, agriculture and cattle breeding.
As the name implies, the implementation of the program should be completed by 2020, and in 2011 the Rwandan government summed up the interim results. Then each of the goals of the plan was assigned one of three statuses: "according to plan", "ahead" and "lagging behind." And it turned out that the implementation of 44% of the goals went according to plan, 11% - ahead of schedule, 22% - behind. The latter included population growth, poverty alleviation, and environmental protection. In 2012, Belgium undertook a study of program implementation and stated that the progress was very impressive. Among the main achievements, she noted the development of education and health care and the creation of a favorable environment for doing business.
When it comes to development agenda, Kagame often begins to talk about the people as the main asset in Rwanda: “Our strategy is based on thinking about people. Therefore, when allocating the national budget, we focus on education, healthcare, technology development and innovation. We are constantly thinking about people."
In Rwanda, there are many government programs that help people get out of poverty and live more or less with dignity. For example, there is a program called "Clean Water", which over 18 years was able to increase the population's access to disinfected water by 23%. There is also a program through which all children have the opportunity to get into primary school. In 2006, a program was launched with the title something like "A cow in every home." Thanks to her, poor families got a cow. Under another program, children from poor families are given simple laptops.
The Rwandan President is also active in promoting technology. In particular, he provided the country with decently working Internet and built something like the local Silicon Valley - the center of information and communication technologies kLab. In it, specialists are engaged in the development of online games and IT technologies.