Rwanda Genocide – Rift between Hutus and Tutsis

Who were Hutu and Tutsi?

Hutu

• Hutu, are Bantu-speaking people of Rwanda and Burundi.
• Hutu comprise the vast majority in both countries. When the Hutu first entered the area, they found it inhabited by the Twa, Pygmy hunters whom they forced to retreat.
• Hutu life centred on small-scale agriculture.
• Their social organization was based on the clan, with petty kings (bahinza) ruling over limited domains.

Tutsi

• Tutsi, ethnic group live within Rwanda and Burundi.
• The Tutsi formed the traditional aristocratic minority in both countries, constituting about 9 percent and 14 percent of the population, respectively.
• The Tutsi entered the area in the 14th or 15th century and gradually subjugated the Hutu, forcing them into a lord–vassal relationship.
• They were skilled warriors, they obtained dominance over the resident Hutu through a slow and largely peaceful infiltration.
• The Tutsi established a feudal relationship with the Hutu, gaining dominance due to their possession of cattle and their more advanced knowledge of warfare.
• At the head of the Tutsis’ complex hierarchical political structure was the mwami (“king”), who was considered to be of divine origin.

Relation between Hutus and Tutsis

• Tutsi expansion in Rwanda and Burundi continued until the European colonial period of the late 19th century.
• Until then relations between the Hutu and their Tutsi overlords had been fairly amicable, but the favour shown to the Tutsi by the Belgian colonial administration (1916–61) intensified the animosities between the two peoples.
• German and Belgian rule made the dividing lines between the groups sharper. This “divide and conquer” strategy meant supporting the Tutsi monarchy and requiring that all local chiefs be Tutsis, turning the Tutsis into symbols of colonial rule for the Hutu majority.
• Post-independence, the resentment created by colonial divide-and-conquer bred violence. Seeing as Hutus were a large majority, they handily won the country’s first elections in 1961, and the ruled by Hutu Nationalists.
• Intermittent violence between Hutus and Tutsis became a feature of post-independent Rwandan

Rwanda Genocide

• Genocide in Rwanda was one of the most horrifying — and most defining — events in post-Cold War history.
• In Rwanda, a land-locked, Maryland-sized country in central Africa, aroun 1 million people were systematically slaughtered.
• The genocide was set into motion by the death of Rwandan President Juvénal Habyarimana.
• On April 6th, 1994, Habyarimana’s plane was shot down by a missile of unknown origin. Government-aligned forces used (Hutu) Habyarimana’s death as an excuse to begin a campaign of slaughter they had been planning for some time, and the genocide began on April 7th. It went on for about 100 days.
• The Rwandan genocide was a systematic campaign by the Hutu ethnic majority aimed at wiping out each and every member of the minority Tutsi group. 
• The Hutu-controlled government and allied militias slaughtered between 800,000 and one million Tutsis before a Tutsi rebel group overthrew them.
• Over 100,000 Hutus were also killed, including both moderate Hutus killed by Hutu extremists and those killed by Tutsis in so-called “revenge killings.”

Main Reason behind the split between Hutus and Tutsis

• The split between Hutus and Tutsis arose not as a result of religious or cultural differences, but the economic.
•  “Hutus” were people who farmed crops, while “Tutsis” were people who tended livestock.
• Most Rwandans were Hutus. Gradually, these class divisions became seen as ethnic designations.
• Because cattle were more valuable than crops, the minority Tutsis became the local elite. By the time Belgium took over the land in 1917 from Germany (who took it in 1884), an ethnic Tutsi elite had been the ruling monarchy for quite some time.

Aftermath of Genocide

• The day after the genocide began, the Tutsi rebel group RPF, led by Paul Kagame, launched an offensive aimed at toppling the Rwandan government.
• In about one hundred days, the RPF defeated the government forces.
• Kagame, a Tutsi, became the country’s leader in all but name: a Hutu was technically made president while Kagame was vice president.
• Tutsi controlled the army also.