Post-Colonization

Independence

Rwanda gained independence from Belgium on July 1, 1962, marked by the establishment of the new Hutu government led by Grégoire Kayibanda. The effects of Belgium’s colonization led to continued tensions between the Hutu and Tutsi groups. The new government established policies that marginalized the Tutsis now that the Hutus were in political power, leading to many Tutsis fleeing to neighboring countries. On July 5, 1973, Juvénal Habyarimana, a Hutu, overthrew Kayibanda in a coup d'état, establishing a regime that continued to discriminate against Tutsis.

RPF and Civil War

In 1987, Tutsis who had fled the country came together to form the Rwandan Patriotic Front, or the RPF. They launched an invasion to Rwanda from Uganda on October 1, 1990. This event started the Rwandan Civil war, which lasted until a ceasefire was negotiated in the following years. President Habyarimana and the RPF negotiated an agreement by August 1993, and the Arusha Accords was signed for the creation of a new transitional government that included the RPF and allowed them to return to Rwanda.

Hutu extremists were upset by this, and used mass media and propaganda in newspapers and radio stations to promote against Tutsis and instigate more violence. They published the “Hutu Ten Commandments” in a newspaper called Kangura, which was an anti-Tutsi media distributed in Kigali. The 10 commandments were:

All Tutsi women all are in support of their own group, so any Hutu marries a Tutsi woman, employs her as a concubine or secretary is considered as a traitor.
Hutu women are more suitable as wives, mothers and employees.
Hutu women were to make sure that their male relatives did not interact with Tutsi women.
All Tutsis were dishonest in business, as their true intention was ethnic superiority, and so all Hutus who formed a business alliance, invests in, or borrows and loans money to or from a Tutsi are all traitors.
Positions in politics, administration, economics, military and security should all be Hutus.
The majority of people in education should be Hutus.
The military of the Rwandan Army should be all Hutus, and no soldier should marry a Tutsi.
The Hutu should show no mercy to Tutsis.
The Hutu should stay united and counter Tutsi propaganda.
The Hutu ideology should be spread to everyone possible.

Genocide

On April 6, 1994, the plane President Habyarimana was on was shot over Kigali, Rwanda’s capital. Hutu extremists and the RPF started to blame each other for the assassination. Hutu extremists started the organized killing of the Tutsi and Hutus who supported them. Their goal was to kill Tutsi and Hutu politicians who supported the current government to create a political vacuum for the Hutu extremists to take power in the government. About 200,000 Hutu participated in the genocide, but some were forced by the Hutu army. People used brutal ways of killing, some using machetes or rape. Another way of instigating violence was through media, especially through the radio. One specific radio station was the Radio Télévision Libre des Mille Collines, or RTLM Radio Station, which was established in 1993 by Hutu extremists to spread propaganda about Tutsis. The radio broadcasts were used to instigate further violence, prompting Hutu civilians to kill their Tutsi neighbors. Tutsis were often dehumanized and referred to as "cockroaches" and rallied Hutus to commit acts of violence. The radio station mobilized the Hutu population to participate in mass murder, giving information about Tutsi whereabouts. The genocide lasted about 100 days, ending in mid-July. More than 800,000 civilians were killed in total and about 2 million Rwandans had fled the country.

UN & World Response

The UN established peacekeeping troops under UNAMIR (United Nations Assistance Mission for Rwanda). As the genocide continued, on April 21, the UN voted to reduce the troops present in Rwanda due to the mission’s mandate, which required for a ceasefire, and the lack of available troops for them to provide. The UN then reversed the decision on May 17 and sent 5,500 soldiers but could not deploy them immediately. They then used the French military force, Operation Turquoise, to eliminate the violence in Rwanda, but the decision was controversial due to the French support of Habyarimana. The United States helped with humanitarian aid under the Clinton Administration. The U.S. helped call for a ceasefire in 1994 and negotiations. About $250 million was spent towards humanitarian relief efforts by the U.S. government.

Aftermath

The RPF had surrounded Kigali and successfully secured most of the country by early July and finally took over Kigali on July 4. The extremist Hutu leaders fled the country, and a transitional government was established on July 19. Hutu Pasteur Bizimungu was established as the president and Tutsi and RPF leader Paul Kagame was the vice president.

The policy of reconciliation was to bring justice to those responsible for those participating in the genocide and promoting national unity and rebuilding Rwanda's economy. Its goal was to help people to look forward rather than be preoccupied with past events. The National Unity and Reconciliation Commission (NURC) was established in 1999 to promote national unity and reconciliation after the genocide. They fostered peace and respect among the divided groups. They used campaigns, Ingando, an education camp, to reintegrate Rwandans into a peaceful society. They also used Gacaca Courts to address genocide cases at the local level.

Gacaca courts were informal community courts used to speed up the prosecution for the hundreds of thousands pending trials from the genocide because it would take too long in national courts. About 12,000 gacaca courts met once a week in villages. "Gacaca" means to sit down and discuss an issue, and was commonly used to discuss offenses within villages. Local witnesses would speak with a few appointed judges to make decisions. These courts were used for less severe crimes, such as physical assault or destroying Tutsi property. Those who had planned specifically for the genocide, committed acts of sexual violence, or participated in the killings were all sent to the national courts. The national courts were able to sentence capital punishment or imprisonment to the guilty. The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) was established by the UN in 1994 to prosecute those responsible for the genocide. It was located in Arusha, Tanzania, and set important precedents such as considering rape as a method of genocide. The ITCR only had the power to imprison those found guilty, not capital punishment. They sentenced 93 people, including government officials and military officers.

The colonization of Rwanda had many effects on the country. The Belgian's favoritism to Tutsis created long lasting hostility between the Hutus and Tutsis, which led to a lot of violence within the country. Colonization also influenced their government, with Rwanda adopting a centralized government. The effects of colonization are shown through the mass killing in the genocide and the efforts taken through reconciliation and the Gacaca courts to try to restore peace within the country.

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