Summary about the Rwanda Genocide Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Summary about the Rwanda Genocide - Essay Example The majority called Hutu and the minority the Tutsi. Tutsi held the majority of the political power despite their small population as compared to the Hutu. In 1984, the Germans became the first colonial power in Rwanda. They realized that the Tutsi had light skins, and they were tall. To the Germans, the characteristics resembled Europeans hence they favoured them in issuing responsibilities. The First World War made the Germans lose their colonies including Rwanda (Mamdani, 2001). Belgium took over Rwanda and introduced the identity cards. The Tutsi continued to receive favour from the Belgians, leaving the Hutu behind. the Belgians gave the Tutsi leadership positions which made the majority of the population, the Hutu terribly angry. However, during Rwanda’s’ struggle for independence, the Belgians made the new self-dependent government in the hands of the Hutu. This further increased the tension between the two ethnic communities. In 1994, the year which the genocide took place, President Habyarimana while coming back from Tanzania, was assassinated. A surface-to-air missile shot the presidents plane killing everyone on board. This made the Hutu extremely angry, and within 24 hours of the assassination the slaughter had started. In Kigali, the Hutu blocked the roads and interrogated the road users. They were supposed to produce their identity cards to prove that they were Hutus. The Tutsi were killed instantly. The killings were done by the use of clubs, machete and knives. The Hutu youths who doing the killings called themselves interahamwe, this means those who strike as one. They also went after the government officials who were Tutsi and the Hutu officials who supported the Tutsi (Mamdani, 2001). This included the prime minister. Ten Belgians UN peacekeepers tried to protect the prime minister and were killed in the process. The Tutsi started running towards the hills