The Tutsi?

       

Rwandan Flag: the only thing the Tutsi

and Hutu share

             The Tutsis are mostly known for being victimized by the Hutus during the Rwanda genocide in 1994, but who are they?  During the Genocide in Rwanda, an estimated 800,000 people were killed in this ethnic slaughter between Hutus and Tutsis.   Most of the people killed were Tutsis.  Why is there foreign country segregation?  What did the Hutus have against the Tutsis?  The only answer to that question is that the Hutus murdered the Tutsis due to their ethnicity.  Who exactly are the Tutsis in order for the Hutus to slaughter them?  Many questions come into mind when talking about this conflict between the Hutus and the Tutsis. 

Who are the Tutsis?  The Tutsis are the second highest populated group in Rwanda after the majority Hutus.  They live in Rwanda, which is in the northeastern part in the Democratic Republic of Congo.  The Tutsi population speaks multiple languages including English and French, but their main village language is Kinyarwanda.  Kinyarwanda is a central Bantu language, which is that dialect in that part of Africa.  The Tutsis were the minority at the time at 1994, and they were completely dominated by the Hutus during the treacherous genocide.  The Tutsis were subdued to violence during the genocide and were sanctioned by the majority, which were the Hutus.  They are quite religious, and celebrate their own holidays.  Most Tutsis are Christian, but others follow their own beliefs.  The ones that follow their own belief usually are in comparison to the tribal belief and the tradition of the Tutsi culture.  Also, the Hutus disliked their culture which ultimately led to the slaughter of hundreds of thousands of Tutsis. 

The RPF (Rwandan Patriotic Front) trying to
gain power back fom the Hutu Government
in a Civil war

The role that the Tutsis played in the Genocide was being the victims.  Evidence proves that out of all 800,000 that were killed in the Rwandan Genocide, almost all were Tutsis.  There were controversies between the Hutus and the Tutsis, where the Tutsis were trying to rebel against the Rwanda government, which was controlled by Hutus.  They were trying to rebel and in 1990, the RPF (Rwandan Patriotic Front) – created in 1987 by Tutsi refugees in the diaspora in Uganda — tried to overthrow the Hutu controlled government.  The Tutsis rebelled due to the continuous criticism and hatred by Hutu extremists.  The Hutu extremists were saying that the Tutsis caused social, economical, and political pressure toward the country.  The Tutsis disagreed with this intensely, and decided to prove that the statement was false and wanted to remove the Hutu extremists that were the head of the Rwandan government.  This eventually led to a Rwandan War, or an ethnic war, which ultimately led to the Genocide.  From a Hutu standpoint, whenever they would see a Tutsi, they would immediately have intentions to harm or possibly kill that Tutsi.  The Hutus were in control over the duration of the genocide which led to the death of hundreds of thousands of Tutsis.  But at the end of the war, the Tutsis gained control and the power suddenly shifted and the genocide stopped.  Paul Kagame was the leader of the RPF, and led the Tutsis to victory in the civil war in Rwanda. Paul Kagame acted hopelessly as the Hutus were just killing his people. 

            So why was there so much heat between both ethnic parties during the middle and late 20^th century? The hatred really started heating up when the Belgians took over in 1916. The Belgians gave the Rwandans identity cards and grouped people by their ethnicity, Tutsi, Hutu, and Twa. The Belgians felt that the Tutsis were superior to the Hutus so they gave them better jobs, more money, and better education. The Tutsis welcomed this idea of superiority but the Hutus hated this form of racism and became even angrier towards the Hutus. So while the Tutsis were enjoying their better jobs and more money the Hutus just stared oppressively at the Tutsi community, waiting for the day that they can finally get their own way. This led to a series of riots in 1959 which ended up killing over 20,000 Tutsis. Tutsis fled to neighboring countries to escape these dangerous riots.



President Habyarimana

           The Belgians left Rwanda in 1962 and gave Rwanda its independence. The Hutus quickly came into power (due to majority population) and started to discriminate the Tutsis. For example, the Tutsis were made a scapegoat for every crisis that occurred in Rwanda making the Tutsis even more extremely disliked. This hatred towards Tutsis kept on escalating until the genocide took place and President Habyarimana was in power, supporting his people the Hutus. Around the same time as the Tutsi refugees in Rwanda and moderate Hutus started the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) led by Mr. Kagame. Their hope was to overthrow Habyarimana and get their right to return to their homeland. Upon learning this Habyarimana pushed for an agreement to be reached. A ceasefire was established in Northern Rwanda during the Arusha Accords in 1993 after some years of fighting between Habyarimana and the RPF.

The President plane which was
shot down by missles

             However, this peace negotiation did little to halt the civil unrest in Rwanda. A few months later, in 1944, the event that finally broke the camel’s back occurred. This sparked the atrocious genocide that ended up killing almost a million people. This started one of the most bloodiest and darkest events of the modern world. President Habyarimana’s airplane was shot down by two missiles as he was landing at Kigali airport. Until this day, the ones responsible for this attack is still a mystery. People didn’t know if it was the Tutsis who killed the Hutu president as a way of revolting or the RPF who wanted to signify a revolt or rebellion, or even a Hutu extremist group that wanted to have a cause for blaming the Tutsis in order to bring forth more hatred towards them and begin the genocide.

           Right after the president was killed, the murders quickly began. Each day, blood would be spewed on the Rwandan land. First, any political leader that was thought to have a potential for halting the conflict and negotiating was assassinated by Hutu extremists. Then the attacks on all Tutsi civilians were targeted. Military officials even persuaded ordinary Hutu civilians to kill. Roadblocks were put in place and the Rwandan military would patrol, sometimes attacking its own people, the Tutsis. Tutsis couldn’t even go to their government because they were also threatening them. This conflict could have been easily stopped only if the UN decided to take action and stop the murderous spree. The UN could have easily stopped the Hutus from attacking but they just watched as the Genocide occurred, and even though this obviously was genocide, they did not want to call it one and remark on it as one. The lives of about 800,000 Tutsis and a couple thousand Hutus could have been saved.

Sources:

http://www.everyculture.com/wc/Brazil-to-Congo-Republic-of/Tutsi.html

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