Analysis of Rwandan Genocide - Essay Example

?Historical background The modern day Rwanda population is made up of three groups ly, the Hutu, the Tutsi and the Twa. The Twa known to be pygmies are the indigenous people of Rwanda. They lived in the jungle as they practiced hunting and gathering. Later the Hutus and the Tutsi moved into the country. The Tutsi were pastoralists while the Hutus were farmers. Rwanda was first colonized by the Germans. Later the country was colonized by Belgians whose main aim was to exploit the country’s resources. In 1933, the colonizers issued identity cards which indicated whether one was a Tutsi, a Hutu or a Twa. They made a clear explanation that this was meant for ethnic distinction. In most cases, they considered the Tutsi to be superior to the rest of the population and replaced the Hutu leaders with the Tutsi. Later in1950s, the Belgians altered their support for the Tutsi elites; they opted to support the Hutus who were the majority. These changes came as a result of several events, it included influential priests who were active politically and were supporting revolution. The second event was the movement of liberation in the Africa and European colonies. The third event was the rebellion from the Tutsi dominated National Rwandese Union (Union Nationale Ruandaise, UNAR). They were against the Belgian rule and supported the monarchy rule. They wanted an immediate independence from the foreigners. The Belgians chose to support the PARMEHUTU (The Party for the Emancipation of the Hutus). In 1959, the Tutsi leader Mwaami Rudahigwa died immediately, the Hutus rose in rebellion killing several Tutsis. Those who died were estimated to be ten to one hundred thousand. However, Belgians did not intervene. Several refugees fled the country. In 1961, the Belgians pushed for elections and Gregoire Kayibanda, the leader of PARMEHUTU, came to power as the first president of Rwanda. In the same year, the country was declared independent, and it was granted formally in 1962. In an attempt to regain power, the Tutsi refugees from the neighboring countries organized major attacks between 1961 and 1964. Each attack resulted in a massacre of Tutsis who were still in the country. In 1973, Kayibanda was overthrown by Juvenal Habyarimana, the then Major General of the Army through a military coup. Kayibanda had ruled unfairly and favored Hutus from the southern Rwanda where he came from. This created the difference between the Hutus of the south and those of the northwest. Habyarimana came from the North West. He introduced a quota system in several institutions which included education and the government in an attempt of “fairness”. He decreed that the Tutsi’s percentage in schools, government offices and military should not be more than the percentage of the Tutsis population which was 9%. A census was organized for the definition of this percentage, and identity cards were re-issued indicating one’s ethnicity. The identity cards were vital tools used during the genocide. In 1990, Rwanda was attacked from the north by rebel group which known as the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF). Its composition was several refugees from the Uganda, Burundi, Tanzania, and Zaire. Fred Rwigyema who was the rebel’s group leader died and was replaced by Paul Kagame who was his close ally from the Ugandan National Resistance Army. Even though most members of the group died due to harsh conditions, the rebels who were disciplined and had appropriate training were a significant threat to the government. According to Lemarchand (2009), the most extreme elements of the Hutu elite formed Coalition for the Defense of the Republic (CDR). It comprised of the akazu a group that surrounded Habyarimana’s wife Madame Agathe Kanziga. The majority were close family members and friends from Ruhengiri and Gisenyi. They formed civilian militias known as the interahamwe. They had extreme racist ideas and increased fear among the Tutsi. According to Jones, (2010), the Hutu manifesto was published in December 1990 in Kangura newspaper that belonged to CDR. They directed the Hutu not to have mercy on the batutsi and to remain firm and vigilant against the Tutsi their major enemy. The Radio Television Libre des Milles Collines (RTLMC), known to be CDR intellectual’s inspiration began broadcasting in July, 1993. This radio station which was independent was a powerful tool during the genocide. It was mainly used to give instructions, spread fear and propaganda. It relayed information such as the grave being half full and seeking those who were willing to fill it. President Habyarimana was forced by the opposition parties to introduce a multi-party cabinet and to start the peace negotiations with the RPF. This took place in 1992 after several massacres in Bugesera. The signing of peace agreement took place in August of 1993 in Arusha. It included the RPF in a transitional government. The RPF soldiers were to be incorporated in Rwandan army and the refugees to return home. However, the implementation of the Arusha accord was delayed by Habyarimana. Another meeting was held in late March of 1994 in Arusha, where the international community, the RPF leadership and those from the opposition political parties pressurized Habyarimana to comply. On 6th April 1994, while returning to Kigali from Arusha, President Juvenal Habyarimana plane was shot at a close range and all those on board died. Dispute arose concerning the perpetrators responsible for the attack. However, many believed the death of the two Hutu presidents was a catalyst for the killings that took place during the genocide. Distinction between Hutus and Tutsis The Hutus are Bantu speaking people while the Tutsi are believed to have been Nilotic speakers who later adopted the Hutus Bantu language. The Tutsi were also perceived to possess greater wealth and better social status. They practiced a cattle ranching which was considered to be of a higher class than the Hutus lower class farming. Though the origin of the Tutsi still remains disputable, they are perceived to have originated from Ethiopia. They arrived in Rwanda after the Hutus who came from Chad. Unlike the Hutus, the Tutsi had a monarchy which was dated back to the 15th century. However, it was overthrown in 1960s with the urge of the Belgian colonizers; the Hutu then, forcefully took over power in Rwanda. The Hutu uprising in Burundi failed and the Tutsi were in full control of the country. The distinction of the Tutsi and the Hutus by Europeans and Speke in particular, who met them while exploring Lake Victoria, is perceived to be racial. The Tutsis were considered as being superior to the Hutus. According to Speke, the Tutsis resembled the white people in their facial appearance hence considered better than the Hutus. They were assigned various leadership positions to rule the Hutus. The Tutsi supervised the various tasks of the Hutus who were subjected to forced labour. The Hutus had a larger percentage of the total population as compared to the Tutsi who were the minority. The racial identity cards issued by the colonizers defined the Hutus as the majority with 85% and the Tutsi being the minority group with 14%. The ground for future violence was established by the Belgian attitude. They came up with distinction between the two groups and favored the Tutsi. The Tutsi were also well educated unlike the Hutus. Political development A coalition government was organized by, the Rwandan Patriotic Front in July 1995 after its military victory. It was similar to The Broad Based Government of National Unity that which had been established earlier by President Juvenal Habyarimana. The constitution, the Arusha accords and the parties’ political declarations was the basis of its fundamental law. During this period any form of political organizing was illegal, it was banned until 2003. Between August and September 2003, the first post-war elections for both presidential and legislative candidates were conducted. Discrimination based on ethnicity, religion and race is prohibited by the current government. In addition, laws have been passed by the government prohibiting emphasis of the identity of individuals whether Hutu or Tutsi especially in the political activities. During the visit of the U.S. President Bill Clinton to Rwanda in March 1998, he gave his own apology for failing to handle the situations that took place earlier in the country. He was apologizing on behalf of the U.S. government and the international community at large. Rwanda as a country still faces challenges in trying to improve on investment and agricultural output and to develop reconciliation. This is the case despite the political reforms which are in place and international assistance which is considered substantial. In March 2000, Paul Kagame after defeating Pasteur Bizimungu became the president of Rwanda. Since 1994, when the RPF took over power Paul Kagame won the country’s first national elections on August 25, 2003. Several obstacles have hindered Rwanda’s efforts to move forward, these include; a sequence of population displacements, troublesome Hutu extremist rebellion, and the country getting involved in the several wars in the neighboring Democratic Republic of the Congo. Habyarimana was the first president to attempt democracy in the country before his assassination and the genocide that came after. The French who were the international donors also prompted the country to be democratized. The Issue of democracy in Rwanda had been staged to be the Tutsis imposition and that of the colonialists hence, disapproved by the Hutu majority. Pretext for genocide On 6th April 1994, the airplane in which the Rwandan president Juvenal Habyarimana and the Hutu president of Burundi Cyprien Ntaryamira were on board was shot down while preparing to land in Kigali. The two presidents died during the plane crash. Those responsible for the incident remained unknown. However, the RPF and the Hutu extremists were blamed for it. The Rwandan government, after conducting an investigation pointed the Hutu extremists in the Rwandan army to be responsible. Other claims is that he was sacrificed by the Hutu extremists who believed that he had confessed too much to the RPF in Arusha during the peace agreement. Despite the disagreements that came up after the plane crash concerning the perpetrators, it is believed that death of the two presidents who were from the Hutu community was a catalyst to the genocide. Using the Habyarimana's assassination as a pretext, the Hutu power extremist went ahead with their genocide plans (Gourevitch, 1998). The major targets were the Tutsi minority and the pro-peace Hutus who were known to be traitors or collaborationists (Waller, 2002). Close to a million people were murdered in a hundred days. In most cases the murders were conducted with cooperation of the Hutus who lived with the victims in the same communities. According to Bloxham and Moses (2010), the genocide was the culmination of the ethnic competition and tensions which had been in existence among the two groups. The Tutsi who were the minority group had occupied top positions for a long period, while the majority Hutus came to power after the 1959-1962 rebellion where they overthrew the Tutsi monarchy. Hamitic hypothesis The hamitic myth is believed to have reinforced the 1994 genocide (Melvern, 2004). Under the hamitic hypothesis, the seeds of discord were sown by the colonialists in the Rwandan society. It was a racialist hypothesis. The hypothesis developed gradually; it was derived from the biblical myth concerning the origin of man. At the end of 19th century, the colonial explorers had discovered different types of population that did not resemble the image of the black people. In order to be able to clearly explain this, they adopted the hamitic hypothesis. Through this myth, they established distinction between the genuine Negroes and the rest who resembled the white people. From the colonial inspiration of the mythical and the ideological constructions, the harmony which was in existence between the Hutus and the Tutsis was interfered with. They groups then realized they were strangers to each other and that the Hutus belonged to the Bantu community while the Tutsis were Nilotic- hamitic. This hypothesis which had racial basis perceived the Tutsi as a foreign race who originated from a place beyond Rwanda. The aim of the Belgians missionaries was mainly to gain full control of the country and they were committed in challenging Rwanda’s civilization which was a threat to them. It was not easy to manipulate the people in the country as it had complex systems monarchy. The colonizers could not manipulate the Rwandans as they had planned earlier. They were also uncertain whether they would attain an effective administration. Initially, they had an expectation that all the African countries were primitive and not organised. This justifies the reason why most colonialists alleged that they were bringing civilization to Africa. Most of them claim to have discovered what was situated in place here Africans lived. In addition, the Belgians were also few in numbers and needed more people to who could help them to gain full control of the country. They therefore concluded that the minority tribe of the Tutsis was black Caucasians or African Aryans. This is because the Tutsis resembled the white people in their structure. Their facial features, height and size resembled that of the Europeans. The majority Hutus were perceived to be Africans who were low mentally and could not discover easily the trappings of the Europeans civilization. They were treated as children, a manner similar to the way mental deficient individuals are handled in the contemporary society. The colonialists also had specific reasons why they chose the minority Tutsis and not the majority Hutus. Their main aim is that they needed several casual laborers, hence preferred the Hutus who were the majority. The Tutsis were elevated to assist in governance and this created a major difference in status. The Tutsis accepted this idea, and they benefited from better jobs and educational opportunities which were not accessible to the Hutus. The Tutsi dominated, remained powerful with increased privileges. This led the gradual build up of hatred among the Hutus who were subordinates under the rule of the Tutsis; it resulted in a series of riots with the climax being the genocide which occurred several years later. Initially, before the introduction of the hamitic hypothesis, the two groups had lived peacefully. John Hanning Speke a well known explorer is known to have promoted racial hypothesis. He is believed as having created the hamitic hypothesis as a basis for the genocide that followed years later. According to this hypothesis the Tutsi were a lost tribe of Ham and were originally from Ethiopia. They were considered as foreigners and were not suppose to live above the ground of Rwanda. The extremists used this background during the genocide; and successfully incited the Hutus to send the Tutsis back to their home country through River Nyabarongo and other rivers and lakes. Corpses were dumped so that they could float back to Ethiopia. The perpetrators During the genocide in Rwanda, the situations were not similar in the rural areas and in the city. For example, in Kigali the killings were conducted in a rapid manner. In addition to this, the events were centralized. The presidential guards conducted the executions immediately after the assassinations of President Juvenal Habyarimana. They managed to execute those who had earlier been targeted. Among these were; the politicians, the journalists, and the activists of civil rights. The presidential guards were many and could perform the executions on their own, however, they still sought help from the militia groups which involved the Interhamwe and Impuzamugambi who were awaiting the opportunity since they killings began. The militia group was made up of the low class people. The equipment which was in use during the genocide included; AK-47 assault rifles, grenades, knives and the machetes. Most of these individuals had undergone military training. They erected roadblocks and participated in house to house searches. The militia group played a key role as executioners. On the other hand, the local organizations were involved in looting houses that belonged to the victims and also protected their own houses from the looters. The discipline of the individuals in the militia recruited during the genocide was poor. Most of them comprised of street boys who were ever drunk and they later turned to armed banditry. This took place after the collapse of the administrative structure which was concern with their recruitment and was also responsible to provide support to the individuals. In most cases, the tasks of the perpetrators were controlled and directed by the civil servants who occupied various positions in the central government (Melvern, 2004). In addition, there was also prefets, bourgmestres and local councilors who were well placed in the interior and the capital to oversee the killings that took place. They were given orders at Kigali and had to mobilize the local groups like the Interahamwe and to command peasants to get involved in the manhunts. The massacres efficiency reflected on the responsibility and the quality of the local administration in the country. They blindly carried out most of the responsibilities assigned to them from the capital hence, leading to the loss of many lives. The administrators were members of the MRND in addition to being civil servants. During the pre-colonial period, those under the authority had unquestioning obedience. Their obedience was also reinforced by the colonial administrators. Moreover, since independence, Rwanda had remained to be a state which was well organised and tightly controlled. In most cases, individuals obeyed those in the authority even if they were ordered to kill. The Tutsi and the Hutus sympathizers had earlier been listed before the killing took place. Their places of residence had been well established and few of them managed to seek refuge. Administrators were dependent on the rural police who were known as the Gendarmie. They were greatly involved in the shooting and flushing the victims from their homes. However, the Gendarmie could not manage to handle the whole population by themselves hence, necessitating inter-service collaboration. This led to the enrollment of several volunteers. Other perpetrators were refugees who were referred to as the Hutu Burundi. This group had fled to Burundi when inter-communal massacres occurred after President Melchior Ndadaye was killed in October 1993. When they later returned to Rwanda, they were recruited into the Interahamwe by the MRND. The ordinary peasants also played a key role as agents during the genocide. Several years after the genocide, the perpetrators who confessed before the traditional Gacaca Courts the various roles they played during the massacre were sentenced to community service (Destexhe, 1995). Recommendations The basis of the Rwandan conflict cannot be classified as racial or ethnic. The main cause is the divisive ideologies of the hamitic theory. The genocide which occurred in 1994 worsened the situation. However, leaders should remain aware that even though the resolutions to the conflicts that exist between the Hutu and the Tutsi was weakened and complicated by the genocide, it is still possible to find a permanent solution to the differences. In order to ensure effective citizenship is attained in the country, there has to be re-foundation of national identity which is reconciling and inclusive. The government should prioritize the policy of national unity and reconciliation even in their actions. Considering the challenging factors to the Rwandan security and peace are external, the government should establish appropriate strategies and instruments that support sustainable peace in the country. Moreover, the government should ensure thorough studies are conducted on this critical issue. There are several solutions and mechanisms which have been established to stabilize Rwanda with regard to the existence conflict. However, in addition to this, there should be a study which reflects on the peace strategies determined by the Rwandan government. Through this, the process strengths and weaknesses will be identified and the appropriate ways and strategies on how to improve the whole process will be established. Conclusion The population in Rwanda is made comprises of three groups, these are the Hutu, the Tutsi, and the Twa. All had unique lifestyle, the Twa were hunters and gathers, the Hutus practiced farming while the Tutsi were pastoralists. The country was later colonized by the Germans and the Belgians. The colonizers introduced the hamitic hypothesis in the country. Through this myth, the colonizers and the explorers identified different types of population that were different from the black people. They had an appearance that resembled the white man’s structure. Using the hamitic hypothesis, the Tutsi who resembled the white man, were considered superior than the Hutus who were regarded to be the typical Africans. The hamitic hypothesis was divisive and through it suggestions the two communities who had lived together peacefully realized that they were strangers. The colonialists had sown seeds of discord in the Rwandan society. These differences between the two communities led to several conflicts and the worst killings that took place during the 1994 genocide. The assassination of Rwandan president Juvenal Habyarimana was the pretext of the genocide. His plane was shot down while he was preparing to land in Kigali. Those responsible for the attack were not identified. The genocide perpetrators included the presidential guards, the militia group and the local organizations. The presidential guards began the killings immediately after the death of President Juvenal Habyarimana. Their main focus was individuals who had been listed earlier. They included the politicians, the journalists, and the activists of civil rights. The militia group and the local organizations targeted the Tutsi and the Hutus sympathizers who were based in the rural areas. The equipment used during the killings included; AK-47 assault rifles, grenades, knives and the machetes. Years later after the genocide, the perpetrators who confessed their roles during the genocide before the traditional Gacaca Courts were sentenced to serve in the community. Bibliography Bloxham,D & Moses, D 2010, The Oxford Handbook of Genocide Studies Oxford University Press, UK. Destexhe, A 1995, Rwanda and genocide in the twentieth century, Pluto Press, London. Gourevitch, P 1998, We Wish to Inform You that Tomorrow We Will Be Killed with Our Families, Picador, New York. Jones, A 2010,Genocide: A Comprehensive Introduction, Taylor & Francis, USA. Lemarchand, R 2009, The dynamics of violence in Central Africa University of Pennsylvania Press, USA. Mamdani, M 2002, When victims become killers: colonialism, nativism, and the genocide in Rwanda, Princeton University Press, USA. Melvern, L 2004, A people betrayed: the role of the West in Rwanda's genocide, Zed Books, London. Melvern, L 2004, Conspiracy to Murder: The Rwandan Genocide, Verso, London. 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