sec450 internal Conflict Paper

Internal Conflict

SEC450 Internal Conflict Paper

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Internal Conflict Paper

The Rwanda Genocide began on April 6, 1994 when the Hutus began slaughtering the Tutsis. The history between the Hutus and Tutsis is long and complicated but begins with the usual class conflict. When the African country of Rwanda was settled the people that were considered to be the upper class owned cattle and were known as the Tutsis while anyone who did not own cattle was considered a Hutus. While anyone could become a Tutsis if they married or if they purchased cattle as time went on and Europeans began to settle in the area the meaning of Tutsis and Hutus changed.

In the 1800’s the term Tutsi and Hutus became to take on a racial connotation with Tutsi acting superior to the Hutus even though they only made up a small percentage of the population. In 1894 when the Germans came to Rwanda the Tutsi were put in charge of the country and later when Belgium’s took over the area citizens were require to have identification that stated whether or not they were Tutsi, Twa or Hutu. The Twa are a small tribal group that lived in the area. Even though the Hutus makeup ninety percent of the population of Rwanda, the Tutsi were the ones placed in positions of government leadership while the Hutus were forbidden from holding any leadership position in the country.

The decision to put the Tutsi in charge create a large rebellion in the country causing the Belgium’s to change their decision an instead place the Hutus in charge of the country. The result was years of resentment and conflict between the two different groups of Africans. The genocide began when on April 6, 1994 President Juvénal Habyarimana plane was shot out of the sky by a missile. President Juvénal Habyarimana refused to allow any Tutsi to hold positions in the government but this changed when in 1993 the President decided to allow Tutsi to participate in the government. This angered the Hutus and a Hutus extremist group and many believe they are responsible for firing off the missile.

Despite the fact that the Tutsi did not have access to missiles and would not benefit from the Presidents death they were blamed for shooting down the plane and killing everyone on board. When the President died the Hutus extremists took over the government and ordered the slaughter of all Tutsi. This began a hundred days of slaughter. In the hundred day of slaughter Hutus that make a 90% of the entire population began to slaughter Tutsi with machetes hand out by the new regime (Mitchell, 2007). Hutus went from house to house dragging out Tutsi citizens and murdering them.

Over the next few months the violence spread throughout the country and the Tutsis that did not flee the country were dragged into the street and murdered by Hutus mobs. The mobs would immediately kill the Tutsi men but in many cases they would rape and torture the women before they were beheaded. These women were beaten, raped with foreign objects, and many had their breasts cut off before death. Some women were kidnapped and forced to become the sex slaves of the Hutus extremists. It would be weeks after their kidnapping that they would finally be slaughtered.

Centuries of anger and frustration and racial tension led to one of the most horrific events in the Earth’s history. Tutsi were so desperate to escape the slaughter and would hide in churches, government buildings, schools, and hospitals. In the past these place have always been considered places of refuge for the Tutsi but in this event they became slaughter houses for the Hutus people. The Tutsi would be boarded up in the church or school and the place would be set on fire. Thousand of Tutsi people would be burned alive at one time. These types if mass murders were common in the Rwanda genocide.

Nyarubuye Roman Catholic Church was the site of the most devastating massacre of the genocide. The church was located about 60 miles east of the village of Kigali and the Mayor of the city, a Hutus man, encouraged all of the Tutsi people in the village to hide in the towns Catholic church. When Hutus extremists entered the town the mayor turned on the Tutsi people and each and every one of the Tutsi people were slaughtered. The Hutus extremist locked the people in the church and threw in grenades and bombs into the church. Tutsi that escaped the blaze were shot down by soldiers. This was not the only event like this in the Rwanda genocide but it resulted in the largest loss of life.

When the genocide was ended by the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) there were tens of thousands of corpses lying around the country because Hutus extremists would not allow the Tutsi’s to be buried. Instead of stepping in and providing aid to the Tutsi people the world turned their backs and UN Peacekeepers present in the country were helpless to stop the killings. They were under strict orders not to interfere. In many cases UN Peacekeepers watched as Tutsis were slaughtered in the streets and tortured. UN Peacekeepers are placed in a country to keep the peace but are not allowed to involve themselves in the politics of the country. The UN failed when they did not order the UN Peacekeepers to take action.

The world has seen on many occasions horrendous acts committed against humans by other human beings. Events like the Holocaust should have made world leaders more sensitive to the need to save citizens being subjected to extreme torture and death. In the case of the Hutus and the Tutsi it began as a class conflict that tuned into a racial and ethnic divide. The Hutus and Tutsi are separated by race but they are in fact the exact same race (UHRC, 2011). When the Hutus and Tutsi were separated they were form the same race the only difference was the Tutsi (upper class citizens) owned cattle while the Hutus (lower class citizens) did not own cattle. It did not become a racial distinction until the Belgium’s decided Tutsi were superior and classified the groups by race.

With the European influence came a change in Rwanda and the people. The Hutus and Tutsi had always lived side by side without any conflict until they were divided by the Belgium government. Before Europeans settle the area Tutsi and Hutus could be married but after the Belgium’s settled the area these types of marriages were forbidden. When race believes they are superior to another race the result will be frustration and anger. This anger can create hostilities that explode into conflict. UN Peacekeepers were sent into the area before the genocide in order to keep peace in the area but this would not be the case. They failed to keep peace and the second largest genocide in the world’s history occurred.

The UN Peacekeepers role is to help countries torn by conflict create conditions for lasting peace (UN, 2013). UN Peacekeepers were sent to Rwanda in order to support new governments in making transitions in the country which included placing Tutsi people in government positions despite protests for the Hutus people. With a large Hutus presence in the country things could quickly get volatile and Tutsi people could come to harm. UN Peacekeepers were placed there to guide the new governmental process and back up the decisions of the government.

When the Rwanda Genocide occurred UN Peacekeepers were ordered by the United Nations not to intercede. Peacekeepers were only allowed to act if there were threatened and despite the fact that many Hutus did not have guns and were only armed with machetes while UN Peacekeepers are armed with M-4 Rifles. In the end the conflict was not ended because another country reached out and extend the victims a hand but because the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) was able to take back control of the country from the Hutus extremists.

By July of 1994 the RPF retained control of the country and more UN Peacekeepers were sent to assist the RPF in their efforts to bury the dead, restore the country, and punish the offenders. The Rwandan Genocide resulted in the murder of over 800,000 Tutsi people resulting in three fourths of the population being slaughtered (Lacey, 2008). Even though around 200,000 Tutsi survived the slaughter there are fewer than ten thousand Tutsi people left in the country. Many have fled and will never return.

References

Lacey, M. (2008). Rwanda Genocide. Retrieved April 15, 2013 from

http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/international/countriesandterritories/rwanda/genocide/

Mitchell, W. (2007). The Aftermath of the Rwandan Genocide. Retrieved April 15, 2013 from

http://worldwithoutgenocide.org/genocides-and-conflicts/rwandan-genocide

United Nations. (2013). What is peacekeeping? Retrieved April 15, 2013 from

http://www.un.org/en/peacekeeping/operations/peacekeeping.shtml

United Human Rights Council. (2011). Genocide in Rwanda. Retrieved April 15, 2013 from

http://www.unitedhumanrights.org/genocide/genocide_in_rwanda.htm