1. A timeline leading up to 1994 genocide
Rwanda
A timeline leading up to 1994 genocide

2. Ethnography
Twa/Pygmies = first inhabitants Displaced by Hutu, migrated from Congo basin (7-10th centuries) Tutsi people arrived from north (15th century) Tutsi conquer Hutu and rule w/ a feudal system -Tutsi kings > Tutsi chiefs/subchiefs > Hutu serfs > Twa

3. Europeans arrive
1880s German explorers -no real influence, used little resources to develop colony After WWI: Belgium occupied Rwanda -same rule as before w/ Tutsi group in power -allowed for intensified ethnic divisions and tensions

4. Self-determination
1950’s: Hutus outspoken about inequalities of system -fighting erupts -Hutus win -hundreds of thousands of Tutsi people flee, including Tutsi King -Hutus in political control 1960: Elections held and Hutu leader for 1st time (after centuries of serfdom) !962: Independence from Belgium

5. Tutsis return
1964: Tutsis return as a rebel army -invasion fails -Hutu Army retaliates w/ massacre of Tutsis 1965: Both sides agree to (uneasy) peace agreement -sporadic ethnic violence continues 1973: Hutu leader is ousted -new Hutu military leader takes over (General Habyarimana) -Habyarimana declares his party (MRND) as the ONLY legal political party 1983 & 1988: re-elected unopposed 1980’s: terrible drought, agriculture devastated, influx of Burundi refugees = declining economy

6. Rwanda Patriotic Front (FPR)
1990: FPR = Hutu & Tutsi moderates rise against gov’t -begin using guerrilla warfare tactics -attack violently from Ugandan bases -Hutus retaliate w/ large-scaled Tutsi extermination 1991: Political reform = multi-party system 1993: UN sponsored peace deal between FPR and Rwandan gov’t -UN peacekeeping troops dispatched

7. General Habyarimana killed
April 1994: General H’s plane crashed -Hutus blame Tutsi rebels -systematic slaughter begins of Tutsis and moderate Hutus -Hutu gov’t sponsors slaughter of 500,000 people by May