hotel rwanda
DESCRIPTION
TRANSCRIPT
Rwanda
A Story of Genocide
Background
• Small African nation• Two ethnic groups
lived in Rwanda: Hutus and Tutsis
• Generally lived peacefully until the Europeans came
Background
Hutus• Majority - 80%• Migrated from
southern Africa• General: found
themselves as laborers and farmers
Background
Tutsis• Minority - 20%• Migrated from
Northern Africa (Egypt)
• General: found themselves as the elite and political rulers
Background
• German colony until 1918 (end of WWI)
• Belgium took it over• Put Tutsis in charge• Handed out “ethnic
identity cards”• Education only open
to Tutsis• Hutus could only be
laborers or low level workers
Independence
• Once Belgium granted independence in 1962, Hutu majority took control
• Over 200,000 Tutsis fled to neighboring countries and formed a rebel guerrilla army, the Rwandan Patriotic Front.
Civil War
• In 1990, the rebel army invades Rwanda and forces Hutu President Juvenal Habyarimana into signing an accord mandating that Hutus and Tutsis share power.
Escalating Conflict
• Ethnic tensions heightened in October 1993 upon the assassination of Melchior Ndadaye
• United Nations peacekeeping force of 2,500 is dispatched to preserve the cease-fire
Assassination
• On April 6, 1994, Rwandan President Juvenal Habyarimana is assassinated when his plane is shot down
• Hutu extremists begin killing Tutsis
Unite Nations Response
• The U.N. Security Council votes unanimously to abandon Rwanda. The remainders of U.N. peacekeeping troops are pulled out, leaving only a tiny force of 200 soldiers for the entire country.
Aftermath
• Between April and June 1994, an estimated 800,000 Rwandans were killed in the space of 100 days.
Still at Large
• Hundreds of men are still wanted in connection with the Rwandan genocide
• Do they look any different from anyone you’d see on the street?