Rwanda Genocide
By: Adaku & Sushma
What Caused This?
Ethnic conflict of the Hutus and Tutsis. In 1978, a Hutu leader was elected, Juvenal Habyarimana, as president of Rwanda. After 12 years of peace, Habyarimana was assassinated while he was traveling on a plane. Although they haven't found out who launched the surface-to-air missile, government forces suspect rebels from other minor tribes planned the assassination. About an hour after the president was killed, the Presidential Guard and government army started to kill Tutsi and Hutu people from nearby villages and communities. This campaign of government forces that started to kill Rwandan people was the spark of the genocide.
What Was The Immediate Effect?
The immediate effect was political instability caused by the death of the president of Rwanda in a plane crash -- which some suggest may not have been an accident. The film "Hotel Rwanda" was made starring Don Cheadle. There was quite an excellent review of events as seen by Paul Rusesabagina, a hotel manager in Kigali. He wrote a book "An Ordinary Man" which was very good.
What Was The Lasting Impact?
95,000 children had been orphaned and more than 400,000 children were out of school. 2000 women – many of whom were survivors of rape, were tested for HIV during the five years following the 1994 genocide. Of them 80 per cent were found to be HIV positive. Many were not sexually active before the genocide. By 2001, an estimated 264,000 children had lost one or both parents to AIDS, representing 43 percent of all orphans. To this day Rwanda has one of the world’s worst child mortality rates – 1 in 5 Rwandan children die before their fifth birthday.