Rwanda Timeline to Genocide

Genocide Genocide is a term defined as any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group, as such: Killing members of the group; causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life, calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; imposing measures intended to prevent births within a group; and forcibly transferring children of the group to another group

Rwanda Genocide The Rwandan genocide was the systematic massacre of an estimated 1,000,000 Tutsi tribe members and moderate Hutus in Rwanda The killing was mostly carried out by two extremist Hutu militia groups, Interahamwe and the Impuzamugambi The massacre lasted approximately 100 days from April to mid-July, 1994

Rwanda-History 3 tribes of people that inhabit Rwanda Twa, the original inhabitants Hutus, migrated in 1000 A.D. Tutsi, migrated in the 14th or 15th century

Rwanda-History (Continued) The Tutsis tribe of people gained a large dominance over the Hutus By the late 18th century, a single Tutsi-ruled state occupied most of the present day Rwanda The rule was headed by a Tutsi King who controlled the land and gave power over the regions to the Tutsi groups The Tutsis, in turn, dominated the Hutus, who had the majority of the population-The population of Rwanda was : 75% Hutu 20% Tutsi 5% Twa

Rwanda 1890 In 1890, Rwanda accepted German rule without resistance and became part of the German East Africa Germany issued almost no rule over the affairs of the country and initiated no economic development Tutsis still ruled the country

Rwanda 1916-1919 During WW1 (1916), Belgian forces occupied Rwanda In 1919 it became part of the Belgian League of Nations Social Structure was not altered Christian missionary work of converting the locals to Roman Catholicism was undertaken

Rwanda 1933 Before the Belgian rule, Hutus and Tutsis lived together as neighbours When the Belgians took power in Rwanda, they gave political power to the Tutsis Eugenics movement began-Scientists came and looked for differences between the Hutus and Tutsis Tutsis were considered to have Caucasian ancestry (through lighter skin, larger skulls) and therefore were ‘superior’ to Hutus

Rwanda 1933 (continued) One of the major contributing factors to the split of ethnic groups was the creation of group classification on ID cards in 1933 The Belgian government introduced a rigid racial concept of group identity where it had not previously existed-the ID cards now stated if the individual was Twa, Hutu or Tutsi Another important factor was the repeated decision by the Rwandan Government (after independence in 1962) to retain the group classifications on ID cards

Rwanda 1933-1956 The Belgians gave the majority of political control to the Tutsis Tutsis began to believe the myth of their superior racial status and exploited their power over the Hutu majority Created a resentment of the Tutsis by the Hutu people

Rwanda 1959 The Hutus felt that the new king had not been chosen democratically and fighting broke out between the Hutus and the Tutsis (who were aided by the Twa) The Hutus emerged victorious, and some 100,000 Tutsis, including the king at the time fled the country

Rwanda 1960 -1962 Hutu political parties won the election in 1960, and they named a new prime minister In 1961, a republic was proclaimed, and Belgium granted independence to Rwanda on July 1, 1962. Ethnic Identification was kept on ID cards in Rwanda

Rwanda 1962-1972 Grégoire Kayibanda was elected as the first president and stayed in power until 1972 During this time, there were many battles between the Tutsis who had fled to neighbouring countries and the Hutus in Rwanda

Rwanda 1973-1988 In July of 1973, a moderate Hutu military group toppled the government A new constitution was created and the General of the military group was elected president of Rwanda Due to continued fighting, over 50,000 refugees fled from Rwanda to Burundi during this period

Rwanda 1990-1993 In 1990, Rwanda was invaded from Uganda by the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), made up mainly of Tutsi refugees. The invasion was unsuccessful, but the president of Rwanda agreed to share the power of the country In 1993, a power-sharing agreement was signed between Hutus and Tutsis

Rwanda 1994 In April 1994, the president of Rwanda and the president of Burundi were killed in a suspicious plane crash Civil strife erupted on a massive scale Rwandan soldiers and Hutu gangs slaughtered an estimated 500,000 to 1,000,000 people, mostly Tutsis and moderate Hutus

Rwanda Today Rwanda is struggling to heal and rebuild It is showing signs of rapid development Many Hutu members have returned to Rwanda The government has promoted reconciliation and economic development

BBC Media Presentation Click on the following link: Warning-some images may be disturbing http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/3594187.stm

Resources http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genocide http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/1288230.stm http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rwanda_genocide

Milgram’s Obedience Experiment The Milgram experiment was a series of famous scientific studies of social psychology, intended to measure the willingness of a participant to obey an authority who instructs the participant to do something that may conflict with the participant's personal conscience The experiments were designed to understand how people can carry out horrific acts against others The experiment showed that ordinary people could be persuaded to give what appeared to be lethal electric shocks to another when persuaded by authority figures

Milgram’s Obedience Experiment (continued) Although the genocide was a terrible act, there were many factors that led to the massacre of 1,000,000 people the people who were actually doing these are not considered ‘bad people’. They were following orders from their superiors. Psychologists have studied this and found that humans will knowingly inflict pain on others simply if they were following orders The Milgram’s Experiment is an example of this The soldiers were not to blame; it was the leaders on both sides are the ones that should be considered bad