Rwanda By: Divya and Diana

Background The Belgians divided the people of Rwanda into 2 groups: Tutsis and Hutus The Tutsis treated the Hutus very harshly and considered themselves as the higher class. By 1960s, the Hutu party won in a general election During this time, over Tutsis were killed and over fled to other countries. In 1990, a rebel army know as Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) was created. This army was made up of the children of the Tutsi refugees. The RPF tried to invade Rwanda, but was unsuccessful because of the support President Habyarimana (Hutu) got from France. Due to these complications a civil was arose producing many casualties and refugees. To retain power, the Hutu government realized this it needed to eliminate the Tutsis. In 1994, the plane carrying President Habyarimana was shot down. So a small group of Hutus planned on using this attack to start a genocide against the Tutsis.

The Genocide In 3 months (1994), about 1 million Tutsis and some Hutus were killed. Women and children were specifically targeted. Also, millions of Rwandans were displaced or became refugees.

How did Canadian peacekeepers help? In 1994,General Romeo Dallaire sent an urgent warning to UN headquarters (“genocide fax”). He explained that the Hutus were planning to register all Tutsis so they could exterminate them and they killed Tutsis in 20 minutes. Dallaire asked for more peacekeepers to the he already had. Instead, after 10 Belgian peacekeepers were killed, the UN cut Dallaire’s men to 500. He believed that the UN could have stopped this genocide. The UN didn’t agree to his requests because not even one of the UN countries were ready to pay the cost. Romeo Dallaire maintained some safe areas for the threatened people in Rwanda.

Outcome This genocide is know as an “extreme failure” of the international community to protect people who were the targets of this genocide. On July 4 th 1994, the genocide had officially ended when the government was set up in Kigali and controlled by RPF. The UN, the United States, Belgium and the Anglican Church have all apologized for failing to stop the genocide.