The year is 1994 and roughly 1,000,000 people have been killed in 100 days during the Rwanda Genocide. This conflict consisted mainly between the Hutu, which accounted for 85% of the Rwandan population and the Tutsi, who were the minority. However, to understand the genocide completely, we need to look at the events prior to, during, and after the Genocide.

The main difference between the Tutsi and Hutu was economic differences. The Hutu, which some scholars believe occupied the land first, were mainly farmers while the Tutsi mainly herded cattle. This difference in work was the first major distinction between the two groups. Soon after World War I, Belgium took control of the area that would be Rwanda in the future. Although the Belgians were in control, they did nothing to bring the people of Rwanda closer together. The Belgians preferred the Tutsi over the Hutu and allowed them to get higher education and hold positions of power, while the Hutu stuck to their farming lifestyle.

For many years there has been tension between these two groups. In 1959, a Hutu revolution forced as many as 300,000 Tutsi to flee Rwanda and seek refuge elsewhere. This event caused the Tutsi minority to become an even smaller group. In 1961, the Hutu again forced the Tutsi government into exile and declared Rwanda as independent. A year later in 1962 the Belgian government gave Rwanda their independence. This civil war continued for years until a moderate Hutu, Juvenal Habyarimana came into power with the help of military power. Trying to end the conflict that has lasted for many years, Habyarimana signed an agreement in 1993 that would create a transitional government that would include the Rwandese Patriotic Front (RPF), a group made up mostly of Tutsi refugees. This angered the radical Hutu which would then lead to the official beginning of the Rwandan Genocide.

On April 6th, 1994, a plane carrying President Habyarimana of Rwanda and President Ntaryamira of Burundi was shot down, killing everyone on board. Soon after, the Hutu launched an attack on the Tutsi and the moderate Hutu who refused to participate in the killings. The very next day on April 7th, Prime Minister Uwilingiyimana of Rwanda, a moderate Hutu, along with her ten bodyguards were killed. The killing of the Prime Minister launched the genocide into full effect, spreading from Kigali (the capital) to the rest of Rwanda.

As the civil war raged on, so did the genocide. The Rwandan government promoted the killings of their own people by radio broadcasts and is one of the main reasons this genocide was so effective. Roughly 1,000,000 Tutsis and 100,000 Hutu were murdered along with 2,000,000 people (mainly Hutu) fleeing Rwanda in about 3 months. In the end, the RPF had "won" the conflict and installed a government that had a Hutu President, and Tutsi Vice President and Defense minister.

This April (2019) is the 25th anniversary of the Rwandan Genocide and as we look back we need to learn from this great tragedy. The Rwandan Genocide was one of the most effective, killing about 8,000 people a day and forcing more than 2,000,000 people to relocate.

Text by Rene A. Luna