Global 2 Rwanda Essay
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Tommy Romano 4/1/17
Global 2 Rwanda Essay
Over the years there has been many awful genocides. Some have included mass killings of a specific race like the Holocaust. Others were about an extreme sense of Nationalism, or a dictator like Pol Pot and Cambodia. One that truly stands out is the Genocide of the Tutsi in Rwanda. It was a story of mistreating and then the karma that came after it. It was an important time in our history as a whole world as it showed how the West turned the cold shoulder on Africa during its time of need. The Rwandan Genocide was a huge part of our history and is very important for us to know and be aware of now.
The Rwandan Genocide was between the Hutu and the Tutsi, the two groups that made up Rwanda. Before, the Tutsi ruled over everything and were very rich. They mistreated the Hutu and lived easy. That all changed when Hutu overthrew the Tutsi king, 3 years before liberating from Belgium. Then began the Terrible Genocide. The president Habyarimana distributed machetes and firearms to hunt Tutsi in broad daylight. The Hutu killed many Tutsi with the machetes and the ones they didnt kill were exiled or raped and beaten. This went on for many years until the children of the Tutsi grew up and started the RPF, or Rwandan Patriot front. This is where things really took a turn. The hutu Government used the military so they could make the killing of Tutsi and other threats legal. Also radio stations became a big tool for propaganda. It went country wide and was more effective because half of the country was illiterate. It would tell people where to find Tutsi refugees, to rape Tutsi women and to kill Tutsi with all sorts of weapons. The stations also had names like Hutu Power or Black Power radio. The genocide was very strong. In merely 100 days, Hutu people had killed anywhere from 80000 to 1000000 people. Clearly this genocide was strong and racially charged and is a very important piece of recent history.
The fighting in Rwanda was going strong for a little more than 100 days until the RPF, who was operating out of Uganda and Northern Rwanda took down the national army and Hutu Militias. The Hutu were scared the Tutsi would punish them so many of them fled to different countries. Some returned just as the Tutsi did years ago with an extremist agency. Many of the Hutu still live in the Congo. The RPF ran the government then and since then they had a presidential and legislative election in 2003. In 2009 the Congo army and the Rwandan Army came together to put an end to the extremists trying to enter and harm Rwanda. Lastly they joined the Commonwealth recently. The West was very ignorant through the whole process and the Clinton Administration would not acknowledge the terror in Rwanda as a real genocide and didn’t help. Many Americans and westerners didn’t even know it was happening.