Rwanda
in 1994
A little bit about Rwanda
In 1994, the Rwanda population was about 7 million people. In that population, there were 3 ethnic groups, Hutu (85%), Tutsi (14%), and Twa (1%). Crazy enough, the Tutsi’s were a higher class than the Hutu’s.
What happened
Within a span of 100 days around 800,000 Rwandans were killed. Most of those 800,000 people were from the Tutsis ethnic group. The real crazy part was that the people who continued the fighting and violence were the Hutus, another Rwandan ethnic group. The event that started this violence was the killing if their president. His name was Juvenal Habyarimana, he was in the Hutu ethnic group and he was killed on April 6th, 1994. He, and one other president were killed in a plane crash that was caused by a rocket attack. About 30 minutes after the plane crash, people from the presidential guard started to kill civilians and even Tutsis. On June 22, the French-led forces got involved by the Security Council to help save civilians and some militiamen to flee Rwanda. On July 4th, 1994, the killings ended when the territory of Rwanda was taken over by the RPF (Rwandan Patriotic
Front).
ARTIFACTS FROM RWANDA IN 1994
A desk
Guns that were used to kill the Tutsis
Police patch
Radio
A piece of the plane.
Works Cited
"Rwanda, Genocide, Hutu, Tutsi, Mass Execution, Ethnic Cleansing, Massacre, Human Rights, Victim Remembrance, Education, Africa." UN News Center. UN, n.d. Web. 10 Feb. 2016.
"Rwanda: How the Genocide Happened." BBC News. BBC, 18 Dec. 2008. Web. 10 Feb. 2016.
"Violence." United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. United States Holocaust Memorial Council, n.d. Web. 11 Feb. 2016.
"Hutu and Tutsi Torn Apart." Www.mtholyoke.edu. Markell, n.d. Web.