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Source: Based on lesson developed by Alan Singer, Director of Social Studies Education at Hofstra University, Hempstead, NY.
QUESTION: Why were almost a million people murdered in Rwanda?
Rwanda is a small landlocked country in South Central Africa. https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/rw.html
After World War I, the League of Nations stripped Germany of its African colonies and granted the European country of Belgium control over the area known as Rwanda. Germany and Belgium used a policy of divide and conquer to control Rwanda. They ruled through local Tutsi monarchs and reinforced ethnic divisions.
In 1959, three years before independence from Belgium in 1962, the Hutu majority overthrew the ruling Tutsi king. Laws passed by the Hutu government took away many rights from the Tutsi. They were harassed and persecuted by authorities and treated like second class citizens. Over the next several years, thousands of Tutsis were killed or exiled. In 1990, Tutsi exiles formed the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) and began a civil war hoping to return home. The war further exacerbated ethnic tensions. A ceasefire was negotiated in 1993, but maintaining the peace was difficult.
On April 6, 1994, unknown people shot down a plane carrying Juvénal Habyarimana, the president of Rwanda. The president was killed. Hutu leaders claimed that the Tutsi had shot down the president’s plane. This was used as an excuse to launch a genocide against the Tutsi. Planning seemed to have been underway for some time, for within hours, soldiers set up roadblocks throughout the country to capture and kill Tutsi people. Radio announcements urged Hutu to rise up and kill their Tutsi neighbors, whom they called “cockroaches” and “snakes.” Gangs of soldiers, police and civilians rounded up men, women and children all over the country to be massacred. The killers used clubs, knives, and guns. Violence and terror engulfed the country. In just a few weeks, hundreds of thousands of Rwandan people would be brutally murdered. The vast majority of them were Tutsi.
The rebel army (RPF) kept fighting. As they gained control of the country, the Hutu leaders who led the genocide fled the country or were killed. They were followed by at least two million Hutu civilians who feared that the Tutsi would punish the perpetrators or take revenge on them. In July, 1994, the rebel army took over the country and the genocide ended. However, in just 100 days, about 800,000 people, mostly Tutsi, were slaughtered by government forces and Hutu extremists who claimed they were weeding out “cockroaches.”
Summary Reading: The Rwandan Genocide Against the Tutsi in 1994
Task 1: Article II of the United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (1948)
In the present Convention, genocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such:
(a) Killing members of the group;
(b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;
(c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;
(d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;
(e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.
Questions
1. What is the definition of genocide?
2. What is meant by “intent?”
Task 2: Video
Watch, take notes on, and answer questions below based on a video on Rwanda narrated by BBC Africa journalist Victoria Uwonkunda. In this video, Uwonkunda explains the events that led up to, happened during, and followed the Rwandan 1990s civil war.
Questions
1. Who are the two main ethnic groups in Rwanda and which is the larger one?
2. Which of the two groups dominated the country until independence from Belgium?
3. What was the goal of the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF)?
4. What event sparked these events?
5. How long did the campaign of violence last?
6. How did the militias identify the people they were looking for?
7. What role did the international community play in permitting these events to happen?
8. How was propaganda used to stir up hatred?
9. What were the results of the civil war?
10. In your opinion, based on the United Nations definition, did events in Rwanda qualify as genocide?
Task 3: Source analysis
You will be given a packet with a number of sources and accompanying questions to be answered.
Task 4: Essay Practice
Answer the question: Why were almost a million people murdered in Rwanda?
Start your essay with a thesis statement that you will argue using evidence from the sources.
· In your answer, you should consider the responsibility of Rwandans and the international community.
· You answer should cite a minimum of three specific documents and materials from this lesson.
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