Rwanda

Torn by Ethnic Conflict

Two major ethnic groups

Hutu Tutsi

Colonization

• During the Scramble for Africa, Rwanda was colonized by Belgium.

• The Tutsi were treated better because they were considered more like the Europeans:– Taller– Skinnier– Lighter skin

The Belgians educated the Tutsi and made them the higher class over the Hutu.

(Today, it’s hard to tell the difference between a Hutu and a Tutsi just by looking at them.)

• When the Belgians left in 1962, the Tutsi remained in control.

• For many years, the Tutsi were aristocratic rulers who oppressed the Hutu majority in Rwanda.

• There were fewer Tutsi (10% of the population), so they were the minority.

No conflict before colonization

• Eventually, the once persecuted Hutus decided to take revenge. They were the majority so it was easy to do.

• Many Tutsi were slaughtered and many became refugees.

• Through a coup, Rwanda soon had a Hutu led government.

WAR• For the next 30 years, the majority Hutu

government persecuted the minority Tutsi people.

• Many Tutsi, and Hutu who supported the Tutsi, fled into Tanzania and Zaire (now called The Congo).

• Refugee rebel Tutsi armies started forming in those countries.

• They fled back into Rwanda and forced the Hutu president to agree to shared power in government among Hutus and Tutsis.

• In 1994, the plane carrying the Hutu Presidents of Rwanda & Burundi was shot down, and extreme Hutus took over the government. Their plan was to kill the Tutsis and moderate Hutus.

• In the next 100 days, more than 800,000 people were killed.

• United Nations “peace keeping” soldiers were sent in, but withdrawn when U.N. soldiers were murdered.

• Moderate Hutus and Tutsis were lured out of hiding into churches where they were told they would be safe. They were murdered.

Who shot down the plane?

It is still unknown whether Tutsi rebels shot down the plane or if it was Hutu rebels who refused were angry that the President agreed to share power with the Tutsis.

An estimated 2,000,000 fled An estimated 2,000,000 fled the region in the mid 1990s, the region in the mid 1990s, becomingbecoming refugeesrefugees in Zaire in Zaire and Tanzania. The following and Tanzania. The following picture is the 15 mile long picture is the 15 mile long river of refugees flooding back river of refugees flooding back into Rwanda and Burundi.into Rwanda and Burundi.