Political leaders who might have been able to take charge of the situation and other high profile opponents of the Hutu extremist plans were killed immediately. Tutsi and people suspected of being Tutsi were killed in their homes and as they tried to flee at roadblocks set up across the country during the genocide. Entire families were killed at a time. Women were systematically and brutally raped. It is estimated that some 200,000 people participated in the perpetration of the Rwandan genocide.
Genocide is the deliberate and systematic destruction, in whole or in part, of an ethnic, racial, religious, or national group. Everybody in their life time has heard about the Holocaust, but there were many other genocides besides the Holocaust. One of the other genocides is the genocide in Rwanda. Like the Holocaust, the genocide in Rwanda involved the government trying to annihilate the other ethnic group. The Genocide lasted from April to June of 1994.
Another important event was in April, 1994 when the Habyarimana and the Burundian presidents were killed after their plane was shot down over Kigali. The RPF sent an extremist Hutu militia and elements of the Rwandan military to begin the systematic massacre of the Tutsis. Also, in 1994 to 1996, refugee camps in Zaire fell under the control of the Hutu militias who were in responsible for the genocide in Rwanda. In 1995, the Hutu militia extremists and the Zairean government forced an attack on the local Zairean Banyamulenge Tutsis. Also, in 1995, the United Nation-appointed international tribunal began charging and sentencing a number of people responsible for the Hutu and Tutsi atrocities.
A major reason is the belief of someone causing genocide is because they blame a group of people for problems in a country. Genocide exists in the form of abortion and in unjust laws. Genocide exists in abortion because many unborn babies around the world are being killed and not given a chance to live outside the wound. Unjust laws are a part of genocide because it takes away people’s freedom or causes harm to them. Genocide does exist today in countries around the world today like Darfur, Sudan.
Many of the violent acts done to the citizens in Darfur can be considered genocide by its definition under the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide. This was also proven when looking at the fact the Sudanese government has attacked its citizens in the past. The attacks in the past happened mostly in the Southern parts of Sudan. However like what happened in Darfur the genocide started due to disputes between Herders of Arab ethnic origin and non Arab farmers. It is also clear that genocide happened when comparing what happened in the Rwandan Genocide with the Genocide in Darfur.
On April 6, 1994, President Habyarimana’s plane was shot down while returning from a peace meeting with the Tutsi rebels. This horrific event was the catalyst for the Rwandan genocide and gave the Hutu extremists justification to kill the Tutsis, something they had been planning to do; it is possible that Hutu extremists shot down the President’s plane in order to set their plan in motion. That night Hutus told all Rwandans to stay in their homes. Little did the Tutsis know this was so the Hutus could find them and kill them. Hutus marched throughout the country with machetes, guns, grenades, and clubs, brutally murdering both Tutsis and Hutu moderates.
Genocide is the most violent way to gain power among power holders in Rwanda. According to Umutesi’s article, power was transposed between Hutu-dominated government and Tutsi- dominated government in 1962, 1973, 1990. All the changes were done in violent ways. Besidess, Tutsi people were labeled as enemies by hardliners of Hutu-led government. “The genocide was calculated to exterminate them; the hateful vitriol used against the Tutsi in the press and on radio broadcasts illustrated this thought process” (citation 1).
The Holocaust vs. the Rwanda Genocide The Jewish Holocaust was the murdering of approximately six million European Jews. This horrific event occurred during World War II. The Holocaust was a program of systematic state-sponsored murder by Nazi Germany, led by Adolf Hitler, throughout Nazi-occupied territory. Of the nine million Jews who had resided in Europe before the Holocaust, approximately two-thirds perished. This plan of persecution and discrimination was carried out in multiple stages.
Discrimination and Prejudice in Rwanda Over a period of three months there was mass destruction in the city of Rwanda. At least 800,000 people were killed in this massacre by the Hutus. The genocide was sparked by the death of the Rwandan President Juvenal Habyarimana, a Hutu, when his plane was shot down above Kigali airport on April 6, 1994. From that time to June of that year, which was a span of one hundred days, death reeked havoc of the Rwandan people. Many blame the Tutsis and the current President Kagame for the attacks, and others blame the Hutu extremist for this travesty.
Adolf Hitler once said "Who, after all, speaks today of the annihilation of the Armenians?" before he sent out troops to massacre men, women and children in Poland and Germany (Tran 1). This shows that because the Turks had gotten away with their actions at the time, Hitler felt that he could get away with it too. Thankfully, Hitler was wrong because Armenians are still around, spreading the word about their cause today, 97 years later. But how do these Armenians keep their 97 year old cause contemporary?