Characteristics Of The Rwandan Genocide

The Rwandan Genocide refers to the systematically performed mass murders of the Tutsi people by their longstanding rivals the Hutu, in which approximately 1 million Tutsi people were killed in a quick and brutal manner by the predominant Hutu government. For as long as history in Rwanda has been recorded, there has always been a long standing feud between the Hutu (85% of the population) and the Tutsi (13% of the population) because of disputes about the Tutsi’s true origins and their distinctly different physical features. Biologist Meghan Appel, “There is no biological evidence of different races, there are millions of cultural differences, and they identify themselves as different races.” (Appel 1) According to the Hutu, the Tutsi aren …show more content…
Estimates now show that over the hundred day span there was 10,000 murders a day, 400 murders every hour, and 7 murders every minute. Although it wasn 't the largest genocide in history, it may be the most brutal because it happened in such a quick and confined matter. According to Nancy Matuszak, “During the Tutsi massacre, deaths occurred at a rate of three times faster than the execution of the Jews during the Holocaust.”(Matuszak) Close to one million Hutu fled the country in fear of retaliation or imprisonment. As soon as Kagame took control, one of his first acts as leader was to hunt down and find these war criminals. Most of these Hutu fled to neighboring countries such as Ethiopia. Kagame feared that the Hutu would regroup in Ethiopia, and would attempt another attack on the Tutsi still remaining in Rwanda. So he led his army into Ethiopia and tried to suppress the final Hutu resistances. While these attacks have been successful, there is still underlying pressure from Hutu militants on the government. This pressure still exists today, and the tension between the Hutu and Tutsi still isn 't resolved. The new Tutsi government in charge claims to desire “peace” and “prosperity”, but their actions and this constant mistrust toward the remaining Hutu population proves the government desires more of an oppression than peace between the two groups. President Kagame may have restored the minimal peace and ended the genocide, but the Genocide Encyclopedia describes that “President Kagame has been criticized for trampling on freedoms, building up an army to assert his dominance, and using anti-genocidal legislation to clamp down on opponents.” (Andreopolus 5). Many may dislike the way Kagame runs the government, but he has been quite successful in tracking down war criminals. According to Kelly Rudd,