American Imperialism In Rwanda

Rwanda is a small, densely populated state located in East Africa. Already under German rule, but above all during the Belgian colonial rule after World War I, Christian missionaries became active in the country. This led to a predominance of Roman Catholics, who, shortly before the genocide accounted for some two-thirds of the population. The background to the Rwandan genocide is inseparable from the destructive legacy of first German, then Belgian and finally the French on the country’s inter-ethnic politics. Rwanda gained its independence from Belgium in 1961 after years of living in a society that promoted the Hutus as the colonial master’s preferred ruling elite. In July 1973, following a decade of anti-Tutsi violence and murder that had forced over 350,000 Tutsis into exile, the Hutu elite split and the National Revolutionary Movement for Development (MRND), led by Hutu Major-General Juvnal Habyarimana, installed itself as a one-party dictatorship in a bloodless coup. Although discrimination continued against the Tutsi community, not many massacres occurred between 1973-1990. …show more content…
The RPF’s attempted overthrow and replacement of the Habyarimana regime with a progressive non-ethnic government was brutally put down. Agreement was reached in 1992 to set up a transitional government in which the RPF would be included. Habyarimana, however, had no intention of sharing power and continued to arm and train militias and secretly import weapons with French assistance while using the regime’s own radio station to broadcast extreme anti-Tutsi propaganda and denounce the peace