Chaos in the Congo
The country of Rwanda has the highest percentage of women in their parliament in the world. Things haven’t always been as progressive in Rwanda, however. In 1994, Rwanda endured three months of government sponsored mass murders, and racism. Every event of the Genocide, before, during, and what it caused, have affected the history of the 21st century.
To begin, the events that led to the Rwandan Genocide were so specific, it seems as if it would be more likely for it not to happen. For centuries in Rwanda, there has been racial tension between two groups: the Tutsi and Hutu (Straus, Scott).There isn’t much of a difference between the two; they speak the same language, the practice the same traditions, live in the same areas,
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The first, and most obvious being that the population of the DRC (Democratic Republic of the Congo) is higher by about 3-4 million people (White, Dean). Tutsi refugees fearing death fled to Zaire, currently the DRC, when the Genocide began (White, Dean). Secondly, the United Nations' International Criminal Court would never have been formed without the Rwandan Genocide (White, Dean). This body inside the UN was created with the initial intent to try the organizers of the Rwandan Genocide. It has since been used for things such as government sponsored human trafficking cases, homophobic laws, and relative hate crimes (White, Dean). And finally, genetics came into play due to the massive decrease of Tutsi individuals (Straus, Scott). The Tutsi had more of a developed immune system, because they owned most of the cows, and were generally richer than the Hutu until the 1950s (Straus, Scott). With more Hutu, and less Tutsi, more diseases like HIV/AIDS and Ebola can infect more people (Straus, Scott). Therefore, the Rwandan Genocide led directly to a strengthening of the United Nations, huge population increase in Congo from about 37 million to 41 million in a year, and the disease epidemic in
The two ethnic groups that were include in the Rwanda Genocide was the Tutsis and Hutus. The Tutsis were the minority population in Rwanda, but they held all the positions of authority. On the other hand, the Hutu made up around 85% of Rwanda’s population, but held no political power, they were denied higher education and land ownership. The size of the nose and the color of the eyes were the factors that determined whether a person was Hutu or Tutsi. The Tutsis disapprove of the colonial rule of the Belgians and demanded to become more independent. After World War II, the Tutsis felt impatient and that it was time they took matters in their own hands to pursuit their independence. In 1959, the tension and violence between the Tutsis and Hutus were greatly increased.
Rwanda is a country located in Central Eastern Africa, with an extensive history of colonization, after Belgium attained control in 1924. Belgium’s rule however also marked the beginning of a lengthy ethnic rivalry between the Hutu and the Tutsi people. Belgium favored the Tutsi the minority at 14 percent of the population over the Hutu, the majority at 85 percent, simply because the Tutsis were more resembling of the Europeans. “Colonial policy helped to intensify bipolar differentiation between Tutsi and Hutu, by inscribing “ethnic” identification on identity cards, by relegating the vast majority of Hutu to particularly onerous forms of forced cultivation and corvee, and by actively favoring Tutsi in access to administrative posts, education, and jobs in the modern sector,” (Newbury, 12). Belgium’s control fueled the Hutu’s resentment towards the Tutsis because the Tutsis received superior treatment for decades. Thus, when Rwanda finally acquired independence in 1962, the Hutus fought for control over the government, highlighting the first warning sign of the genocide to come. Many Tutsis were killed afterwards, while many others fled to neighboring countries to escape the violence.
The Hutus and Tutsis were not traditionally different, and ethnicity in Rwanda only became important during Belgium colonization when the more European-looking Tutsis were chosen as the aristocracy to rule over the Hutus. After Rwanda's independence in 1961 the Hutu majority, comprising roughly 85% of the population, ruled the country. Between 1961 and the outbreak of genocide in 1994 many Tutsis fled the regime due to its discriminatory practices and anti-Tutsi policies. Even after gaining control of the country, however, Hutus had been scared of a Tutsi coup or an invasion from the Tutsi refugees in neighboring Uganda. The regime of president Habyarimana played on these fears in order to distract Rwandans from failing policies and
The Democratic Republic of the Congo, a.k.a. the DRC, or more commonly “the Congo”, has experienced an endless nightmare of violence, poverty, famine, sickness, and murder for the past 16 years. The constant bloodshed between the national and armed forces has led to countless civilian deaths, or the genocide in the Congo. Before I go on any further, I must explain what a genocide is. A genocide is the attempted destruction of an entire group of people. The most famous example is the Holocaust in which 6 million Jews were murdered during World War II. It is tragic to say that history has repeated itself and over 5 to 7 million Congolese civilians have lost their lives since 1996. In order to truly understand the events that are transpiring
Do you like your personality? The main character Tomi in the book “House of The Red Fish” has quite the personality. His personality could be good and bad in different situations, but overall I think it is a nice one to have. I think this because he is, kind hearted, curious, brave, extroverted, reckless, and strong. First of all, Tomi is very strong and kind hearted .
First, in order to understand the implications of the state with the genocide, its colonial and post-colonial history must be understood. Rwanda was under Belgium colonial rule. When Rwanda was formed, its two major ethnic groups consisted of the Tutsies and the Hutus. During colonial rule, the Belg favoured the minority which were the Tutsies. The Tutsies were favoured by receiving better education and public treatment (Hintjens, 1999, p.245). Near the end of colonial rule, the Hutus obtained power. In post-colonialism the Hutus remained in power, but they were struggling in governance and economically. Therefore, in order to protect the Hutus government from being overthrown or perceived as weak, the Hutus government blamed their struggles on the Tutsies. In effect, the Hutus government used ethnicity as an instrument to protect themselves and put their failures on the Tutsies. When the government tells their population that the Tutsies are to blame and ''if you do not kill them, they will kill you'', there is an incentive for Hutus to want to protect themselves. Scott Strauss argues that even though some individuals do not actually believe the problem was the Tutsies, they will kill in order to protect themselves because they carry fear (Strauss, 2008, p.521). The horrid events of which occurred during these 100 days and caused around 800,000 deaths have left a population with multiple physical and mental scars (Abrahamsen, 2016). The state of Rwanda played a horrid role in the creation of the genocide. Although rivalry in ethnicities seemed to be the cause of the genocide, ethnicity was only an instrument used in order to achieve national interest. The sate is largely to blame for the genocide, but post-genocide the conversation of the genocide was no longer legal (Amnesty International, 2010). Genocide ideology was criminalized in
According to Michael P. Scharf, over 800,000 Tutsis were slaughtered in just 4 months. To put that in perspective, that is two times more people than everyone in Atlanta, and every single one of their lives were taken in a third of the year. Such a terrible atrocity and no one accepted the blame. A small group of African leaders came together and blamed other countries such as the United States and the members of the United Nation’s for not intervening on the genocide that was occurring. Others, however, stated that it was not their place to get in the middle of a civil war. Looking deeper into this matter, some even say that the Rwandan government shares a portion of the blame for putting the two groups, the Hutus and the Tutsis, against each other. There has been a long, thick tension between the two for many years going back to when Belgium owned a colonial state known as Rwanda-Burundi.
The Rwandan Genocide was one that will never be forgotten. It occured from April 7, 1994 to July 1994. Rwanda was mainly separated into three different ethnic groups. The Hutus, the Tutsis, and the Twa. The population of the Hutus in Rwanda was about 84 percent of the country, the Tutsis group was 15 percent, and the Twa ethnicity was only a trivial 1 percent. The start of the country’s civil war was triggered by the killing of the Rwandan president. The country was having difficulties before the assassination, and the killing only initiated the anger. The Rwandan Genocide left the country struggling to reconstruct the relationships between its people.
For years, Rwanda has been a hotbed of racial tension. The majority of the Rwandan population is made up of Hutu's, with Tutsi's making up the rest of it. Ever since European colonial powers entered the country and favoured the Tutsi ethnic group over the Hutu by putting Tutsi people in all important positions in society, there has been a decisive political divide between the two groups. This favouring of the Tutsi over the Hutu, and the Hutu subjugation as an ethnic lower class resulted in the civil war and revolution of 1959, where the Hutu overthrew the Tutsi dominated government, and resulted in Rwanda gaining their independence in 1962.
Rwanda is a country located in the middle of the African continent. The two ethnic groups present in the country lived in peace under their monarch until the arrival of Europeans. The Belgians arrival into Rwandan is what split the two ethnic groups of the Tutsi and Hutus, making them identify themselves with ID cards. This caused tension between the two groups as the Belgians favored the ethnic Tutsi, and made them the head of the government. Decade’s later Hutu extremists would take over the government and have revenge on the Tutsi. The new government would send out broadcasts calling on Hutus to kill their friends and neighbors. The Rwandan genocide would become the worst genocide to ever happen in Africa and one of the worst in the world. Today Rwanda’s recovery is surprisingly fast with the help of multiple nations and organizations. Rwanda’s recovery is nothing short of a miracle and is an amazing story of a war between two peoples.
Before the genocide, Rwanda was a colony of Belgium. When the Belgian explorers arrived, they split the people by their physical features. These features include the size of your nose, your skin tone, and even your height. Being a Tutsi ment you closer resembled a European with a smaller nose and brighter skin color. This division later on showed that the Belgians favored the Tutsi more than the Hutu. The Hutu took up 90% of the population followed by the Tutsis 9% and the last 1% goes to erelevant groups of the genocide, such as the Twa. But how did the tensions rise between the groups?
In Rwanda, the Hutu has come into much conflict since the 1990s. As the Germans and the Belgians colonized Rwanda, the favoritism of the colonizers created great ethnic divides within the country. These partitions ultimately became so profound that a violent genocide took place, turning countrymen against each other. The Congo was a nearby place for the violence between the Hutu and Tutsi to continue, while also becoming an important economic factor to the wealth of other nations. The colonization, genocide, and conflicts in the Congo all contributed to the major issue of racial segregation faced by the modern Hutus.
800,000 Tutsi people were killed by the Hutu’s over one hundred days, that is 8,000 everyday. The Rwandan Genocide was sparked after the killing of the Hutu, Rwandan President he was allegedly killed by Tutsi rebels. There are stories that say otherwise and they blame the Hutu’s, no one knows who shot down the plane there are only theories. There had been tension for many years after the Hutu’s took power off the Tutsi’s after the Belgians left. Tutsi’s then did small terrorist attacks on them. It had been brewing for years. This is similar to the Holocaust in the way that the Tutsi’s were made out to be evil as Hitler did to the Jews. If one was half Tutsi and half Hutu how they determined if they were one or the other was that they would measure their nose, how far apart their eyes were or if their skin was a certain colour etc. Once they determined what they were they would give them a ‘passport’ that stated whether they were a Hutu or Tutsi. This is very similar as to when Hitler picked out all the different measurements or way a Jew looked. When the killings started they used machete’s, garden tools or anything they could get their hands on because if a Hutu was neighboured next to a Tutsi they would go next door and butcher their whole family. A lot of bodies were thrown into rivers similar to when the Jews bodies were thrown into pits at the time of the
In the past, many incidents of genocide have occurred, like the Armenian genocide or the Rwandan genocide. While these incidents may seem unrelated to current times, similar incidents are starting to occur in many parts of the world and one such place is Congo. Many sources hint that the conflict that occurs in Congo is a genocide because many elements of genocide appear in the conflict like classification or dehumanization. While what they say has some truth in the sense that this conflict contains some element of genocide but, not enough elements are present to make it a genocide. Although many would believe that the conflict in Congo is a genocide, there is evidence of the conflict being a territorial and power dispute because some countries invading Congo want the resources, others want power, and the cause of the conflict in Congo is the aftermath of the Rwandan genocide.
Beginning April of 2004, the Rwandan Hutu started mass murders of Tutsi. This genocide is believed to have spawned from the civil war that was taking place at that time. This civil war was based on issues over power and resentment between the Tutsi and the Hutu. (Rwanda, 2008) Eventually the war escalated to the point where the Hutu began genocide of the Tutsi and anybody who opposed the ideas of the Hutu. The killing of the Tutsis became so common—in a very short amount of time—that it was practically acceptable amongst the Rwandans. (Hintjens, 1999) This was a very brutal and gruesome genocide. In just five weeks, approximately half a million Tutsi and innocent civilians had been murdered. (Hintjens, 1999) This is an astounding number of people, especially because the Hutu murdered the Tutsi at knife point—usually with a machete. (Snow, 2008)