Rwandan Genocide

~ Subject of the day ~

RWANDAN GENOCIDE

Dears readers,

Today we are going to talk about a subject that we didn't hear much about because it was not very mediatized. It took place from the 6th April to the 4th July 1994 in East Africa more precisely in Rwanda between Democratic Republic of Congo and Tanzania. It was the fastest genocide in History with the most important number of deaths per day. During this mass murder 800,000 Rwandans were killed.

During the 1st World War Belgians inherited the Rwanda-Urundi colony from Germans who lost the war. Belgians separated the population in three groups: the Tutsis who were considered as the most intelligent and who were supposed to be physically closer to Europeans than the others. Colons called them "White-Niggers". The other important group were the Hutus who were in majority agricultors and were as inferior people. The last group were the Twas, the smallest one. During decolonisation Belgians placed Tutsis at the power until Hutus rebel.

Concerning the Medias, the radio "One Thousand Hills Free Radio and Television" played a major role during the genocide broadcasting hatred messages constantly like " Tutsis are croackroaches ! We will kill you !" . Those messages drove to te creation of district militia and massacres more and more planned .

We have to keep in mind that this massacre was approved by the Rwandan Government which supported the radio.The murder of the Rwandan President Habyarimana used as an excuse to beginning the genocide.

Rape was also used by the Interahamwe (a militia which committed the most of massacres and which was on the side of Habyarimana) as a weapon of war transmetting the AIDS to the victims often very young.

Moreover, militias were armed by major powers like France (firearms and munitions) and China (machetes).

However, we mustn't forget the fact that the International Community didn't do anything to stop this genocide, qualifying the massacre as an interethnic conflict.

At the end of the genocide, popular court were made by village people, called Gacaca to judge criminals or suspect. Witnesses told their stories and people decided of their culpability.

The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, established in November 1994 by the United Nations Security Council to judge people responsible of the Rwandan Genocide and other serious violations of international law judges this crime against humanity.

To learn more about this tragedy, we advise you to watch a very good movie by Raoul Peck called Sometimes in April . Here the movie (it's legal ! )

By Prisca, William and Anissa,

#TeamUltimatePower