Rwanda Genocide Research Paper

Words: 1360
Pages: 6

The Rwandan genocide began on the dawn of April 7, 1994 after a plane crash which killed both the Rwandan and Burundian Presidents. The genocide lasted for a hundred days in which many people were slaughtered by fellow Rwandans. The world media has often portrayed the genocide as an ancient tribal conflict between the majority Hutu and minority Tutsi, implying that it is a phenomenon more specific to the African population. This idea is in line with theories of conflict such as the Huntington’s Clash of Civilizations, which in brief predicts that after the Cold War a new era of ethnic clashes would emerge. This however, is a weak and damaging understanding of the genocide which took place in Rwanda. By dismissing the conflict as “tribal”, one …show more content…
People were killed nearly 800,000 – 1,000,000 Tutsi’s and 2,000,000 in total during this genocide within 100 days. After the Holocaust in World War II, this genocide was the biggest, atrocious, and pernicious; it had a miasmatic atmosphere during that time. Majority of the Tutsi died in this genocide the rest were refugees and the Rwandan population. The people that were actually killing were perpetrators from the Rwandan government, the “brainwashed” Hutu population, and two militias which were the Interahamwe and Impuzamugambi. The Tutsi’s also rebelled, as in fought back, with the name of RPF. The Rwandan government included all Hutu population. That fact played a big role in the misconception of the cause of the war. Since the Rwandan government only consisted of Hutu nationalist, the Hutu civilians were brainwashed into believing the Hutu nationalists to annihilate all Tutsi population and whoever came in their path. Due to this very reason the cause of this genocide was said to be ethnical tensions between the Hutu and Tutsi. The common public of Rwanda was blinded into believing the Rwandan government. This was tragic and unfair to not only to the Tutsi, but also to the Rwandan population. This was only a small part of the greatest