Genocide in Africa Rwanda and Sudan

Genocide Systematic mass killing of a group of people Can be national, ethnic, racial, or religious One group will deny the humanity of another group At the end, they will deny a crime was committed

Rwanda 1994

Rwanda Rwanda was colonized by Belgium A Divide Between Two ethnic groups was created by the Belgians Tutsis- More money, more attractive (a longer nose), the minority of people in society. Hutus- farmers, poor, less attractive (a blunt nose), a majority of people in society. Many believe there is no genetic difference between the two groups. Belgium gave many positions of power to the Tutsis the minority (Tutsis) ruled the majority (Hutus) Rwanda The Belgians left Rwanda in 1962, creating a power vacuum in the country. The fighting begins

Initial Events The Fighting continues from the 1960’s to the 1990’s. April 6-7, 1994 Tensions were already high between the groups. There was a continuous struggle for power. The Prime Minister was going to appeal for calm. She was a moderate Hutu

Initial Events The prime minister was assassinated by extreme Hutus The Hutus blamed it on the Tutsis and United Nations peacekeepers (aka Blue helmets) and used it as an excuse to target Tutsis. The President of Rwanda is killed when his plane is shot down while landing in Kigali, after a meeting to address the tension.

Initial events Extreme Hutus took control of radios stations and began calling for the execution of all Tutsis Tutsis were referred to as “cockroaches” 10 un peacekeepers from Belgium were tortured and executed with machetes

Nyarubuye Massacre April 15-16, 1994 20,000 killed at a catholic church outside Kigali (capital of Rwanda) Mostly Tutsis and some moderate Hutus

Nyarubuye Massacre

The genocide continued until July, 1994

Thousands of orphans were created.

From April to July 1994, about 937,000 were killed

International Response? The UN was unwilling to intervene. The U.S. was unwilling because of events that happened in Somalia in 1993. The ambush in Mogadishu “Blackhawk Down”

The end of the Genocide Tutsi rebels defeated the Hutus in July, 1994 Millions of Hutus fled Rwanda into Tanzania, Zaire, and Uganda Thousands died of diseases in refugee camps

Genocide in Sudan

Genocide in Sudan People in North Sudan are Arab Muslims People in the South are dark-skinned and practice indigenous (traditional) and Western religions including Christianity The Western Sudanese live in a region called Darfur

Sudan Tension between the 2 groups started decades ago They compete over scarce land, oil, and water Sudan is ruled by the Arab Muslim government in the north In 2003, non-Muslim Sudanese in Darfur rebelled against the government

Sudan In response to the rebellion, the government of Sudan created a militia group known as the Janjaweed The Janjaweed are armed militia on horseback They began killing and enslaving Darfurians

Sudan In Sudan many Muslim extremists believe it is ok to kill or enslave non-Muslims because they aren’t really human.

Sudan President Omar Hassan al-Bashir Ranked as one of the top 10 worst leaders in the World Has denied killings have taken place

Sudan Estimates put the number killed at over 300,000 since 2003 Over 2 million have fled and live in refugee camps in Chad and Kenya