Conflict in Democratic Republic of Congo Sejahari Saulter-Villegas Jordyn Denne Alyssa Younger

Bell Ringer: What does genocide mean? What are some major genocides you know of? How do genocides affect neighboring countries?

Definition of Genocide A genocide is a mass killing of a group to bring them to extinction. i.e. Rwanda, and The Holocaust.

The Colonization of Congo In the 1870's King Leopold of Belgium heard of how wealthy Congo was in resources (gold, rubber,and ivory). He thought he could gain money by colonizing the state and other states such as Rwanda, through the Berlin Conference. In order to gain the money, many of the Congolese were forced into labor camps and nearly 10 million people died. The United Nations found out about the labor camps and called for the Democratic Republic of Congo to become independent from the Belgians. When the Belgians left, it created conflict between the Hutus and the Tutsis because only one ethnicity could govern the Rwandans. Later Mobutu Sese Seko became the leader of D.R.Congo later renaming it Zaire.

Tutsis- The Tutsis was an ethnicity group of Rwandan people who were the minorities but were left in charge of Rwanda(Rivals of Hutus) Hutus- The Hutus was an ethnicity group of Rwandan people who were the majorities and were controlled by the Tutsis.

Rwandan Genocide The historical tension between the Hutus and the Tutsis has been great. King Leopold left the Tutsis in charge sparking conflict in Rwanda. The Tutsis were in power after the Belgians left, but because the Hutus were the majority, Rwanda's new president was a Hutu. In 1994, Tutsi "extremists" shot down the plane of the Hutu president. This was why the Hutus retaliated with mass killings of Tutsis in Rwanda; also known as the Rwandan genocide(estimated 800,000 people killed). Although most of the Tutsis were killed by the Hutus, the Tutsis regained power over Rwanda as the Hutus fled to the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Hutu and Tutsi Conflict in Congo The Rwandan Tutsi militia overthrew Mobutu's government,and allied with other countries to invade Congo-Zaire.The Tutsis considered the invasions of the Hutu's refugees across the border as a constant threat. The First Congo war began in October of 1996. After the genocide of Tutsis in Rwanda in 1994,almost 2 million refugees went to the western border of Congo. The Hutus terrorized and robbed the Tutsis until the Tutsis led an army to force the Hutus out of Congo, sparking the First Congo War.The two consecutive wars in 1996 & 1998 have resulted in 5.4 million deaths.

Hutu and Tutsi Conflict in Congo President Kabila turned on his supporters - Rwandan Tutsis and Ugandans, and allowed the Hutu militia to regroup in eastern Congo. Amongst the continuing violence by a number of active militias in North and South Kivu, leaders in Kinshasa, Kigali, and the rest of the region must work together to implement a sustainable conflict-resolution strategy for lasting peace. Soldiers are still battling militias for control of land and mines. Civilians suffer extreme violence, and the humanitarian situation is deteriorating.

Videos Rwanda http://abcnews.go.com/Archives/video/july-26-1994-crisis-rwanda-16852115 Congo http://abcnews.go.com/International/video?id=6717647

Exit Slip What is a genocide in your words? How did the genocide of the tutsi's affect D.R.Congo.