Kigali

its independence and the Hutu majority took back power. There were also many immediate causes of the Rwandan Genocide. Just before the massacres began, the United Nations were brokering a peace agreement between the Hutu leaders and Tutsi rebels in Kigali. After the agreement was signed, the president of Rwanda, Juvenal Habyarimana, was killed when his plane was shot out of the sky by Tutsi rebels. The Interahamwe now began to say over the radio “We must cut the tall trees”, meaning they would…

Jacqueline Novogratz, is harassed for the shrinking blue sweater that her uncle had given her. That same day, she immediately goes home, boxes up the sweater and donates it to goodwill, thinking she will never have to see it again. Ten years later in Kigali, Rwanda, Novogratz is jogging through the streets when right in front of her, she sees a bright blue sweater with two zebras roaming Mt. Kilimanjaro on it. Grabbing the child wearing…

Several Rwandan figures had tried to explain the precarious nature of the peace situation, however, both sides would not come to any agreements. On April 6, 1994, explosions were heard from the Kigali airport, which resulted from a presidential plane being shot down. The plane was carrying President Habyarimana, who was returning from Tanzania after signing the Peace Accord. It is believed that the Hutu government itself had been responsible for…

Throughout history people have always attempted to eliminate each other for various reasons. In April 1994 Rwanda was in a brutal between the ethnic groups the Hutus and Tutsis. The Hutus led a genocide against another ethnic group the Tutsi in a gruesome civil war. Jean Hatzfeld’s book Machete Season: The Killers in Rwanda Speak. Hatzfeld interviews with a group of Hutu mass murderers that were all friends and came from the same region. Hatzfeld argues that the genocide was a politically…

In the first few lines of Africa since 1940: The Past of the Present, you are enthralled. Enthralled since in 1994 people, black South Africans, were allowed to vote. Vote to decide who would govern their country (p.1). A country that knew only colonial empires and apartheid. So in April, 1994, they voted, breaking through the chains of segregation and becoming democratic in order to have one voice. Fredrick Cooper’s preface alone is stimulating. He offers the readers a chance to question…

Conflict, from the many forms it takes—religious, ideological, racial, etc.—it has always been a strong theme throughout human history. Its so prevalent one might say its part of human nature. Whether it is part of human nature or just a byproduct of it, one can’t deny that it can manifest in nefarious ways and cause horrible events to occur—genocide is one. Merriam-Webster defines genocide as “the deliberate killing of people who belong to a particular racial, political, or cultural group.”…

Graphic Novel Essay One of the darkest time in Rwandan history was the massacre of Tutsi and moderate Hutu; It lasted a hundred days and an estimated one million Rwandans were killed. The genocide was planned by a group of Hutu extremist known as the Akazu, and the killings were carried out by the government supported militias like the Interahamwe and the Impuzamugambi. Even though innocent civilians were being slaughtered because of their ethnicity, the United Nations choose not to intervene…

that started the genocide, although not the only reason, was the assassination of the president of Rwanda, Juvenal Habyarimana. He was returning from a summit in Tanzania when a missile shot his plane out of the sky over the capital city of Rwanda, Kigali, all on board were killed in the crash. The Hutu extremists took over the government within twenty-four hours of the assassination, blamed the Tutsi, and began the slaughter on April 6, 1994. A Hutu extremist anti-Tutsi youth organization set…

is ethnically motivated. With the Rwanda genocide, Hutu militia groups began slaughtering Tutsis and moderate Hutus because of increased pressure and frustration that was finally ignited when a plane carrying Burundi’s president was shot down over Kigali. The third point is that a genocide must be the last resort; meaning that all other options must be tired before resorting to a genocide. When is the declaration of such an event justified as the last resort though? What else could have been…

According to the 1991 national census, the total population of Rwanda was 7.7 million. The Rwandan Genocide began with mass killings in Kigali, but killing had spread to all corners of the country. First one was for 100 days between April and July in 1994. Paul Kagame and RPF were blamed for this event, though it has never been proved that they have committed this crime. Rwandan and Hutus…