A photo dating back to 1994 documents the mass migration to escape the massacres in Rwanda (Associated Press)

Three decades have passed since the genocide against the Tutsi ethnicity that occurred in Rwanda in April 1994.

At that time, Hutu militias killed approximately 800,000 Rwandans from the Tutsi minority, moderate Hutus, and the Twa ethnic group, in one of the darkest events in world history.

The legacy of colonialism, incitement campaigns, hate speech in the media and the international community's slow response to the crisis in Rwanda fueled the genocide.

The crisis expanded to the neighboring Democratic Republic of the Congo, causing war to erupt, and to this day it is witnessing ongoing violence.

Tensions were already brewing between Hutus and Tutsis before April 1994. Tutsis made up approximately 8.4% of the population according to a 1991 census, and during the colonial era enjoyed benefits and privileges.

Hutus made up 85% of the population, but they were practically unable to obtain education and equal economic opportunities.

“Historians generally conclude that the Belgians used the Tutsis as agents to rule the country, and therefore provided them with special privileges,” says Lennart Wolgemuth, a researcher and former professor at the Swedish University of Gothenburg.

Before colonialism, it was not possible to easily identify the ethnic affiliations of Rwandans. It was common for wealthy Hutus, for example, to receive titles of honorary affiliation with Tutsis.

“The division was based on how much livestock a person had, but the Belgians reinforced the differences between the two ethnicities and manipulated them,” Wohlgemuth said. “The Tutsis were actually better off, and of course they used their privileges to improve their lives.”

In 1932, the colonial authorities conducted a population census and added ethnic identification to identity cards. This step contributed to deepening societal division. In 1959, independence movements spread throughout Africa, and the Hutus rose up against Belgian colonialism and the Tutsi ruling elite.

This led to about 120,000 people fleeing to neighboring countries, the majority of whom were Tutsis, to escape the killings and attacks on them. After independence in 1962, a Hutu government came to power.

As for refugees in neighboring countries, they began to organize themselves in countries of asylum, especially the Tutsis. The Hutu government began to fear the influence of one of the most prominent groups, the Rwanda Patriotic Front, which was based in Uganda and enjoyed the support of President Yoweri Museveni. Among its most prominent leaders was current President Paul Kagame. Fighting broke out in late 1990 between the Front and the government of Rwanda.

The fuse of genocide

During that period, the Tutsis were subjected to a violent campaign of repression by the Hutu government, which accused them of collusion with the Rwandan Patriotic Front. Government propaganda portrayed them as traitors, sparking widespread anger against them.

After international intervention, Rwandan President Juvenal Habyarimana signed the Arusha Accords in August 1993 to end the fighting, halting RPF attacks. The United Nations deployed forces to facilitate the peace process within the framework of a UN mission to assist Rwanda.

This sparked anger among Hutus and even within the government, and some began carrying out killings based on lists that included names of members of the Tutsi ethnicity.

On April 6, 1994, a plane carrying the Rwandan President and Burundian President Cyprian Ntaryamira was shot down over Kigali. The two presidents and those on board died.

Those involved in shooting down the plane were not identified, but local media pointed the finger at the Tutsis, accusing them of involvement in the assassination of the president, and urging the Hutus to "intervene and do their duty."

Killings

The murders were systematic. Hours after the president's plane went down, security forces assassinated the prime minister, a moderate Hutu, and 10 Belgian peacekeepers assigned to protect her at her home on April 7, 1994.

Then government forces in cooperation with the Hutu militia known as the Interahamwe - a name meaning "those who attack together" - set up roadblocks in Kigali and began attacking Tutsis and moderate Hutus. The killing quickly spread to other cities.

The soldiers opened fire on the crowds, while men with white weapons moved between the houses, targeting Tutsis and those trying to protect them or provide them with refuge from the Hutus, using machetes and sharp or blunt clubs. They killed neighbors and family members, raped women, and looted homes. Later, the victims were taken to large open areas such as playgrounds or schools to be slaughtered.

The killings ended 100 days later on July 4, 1994, when the Rwandan Patriotic Front took control of Kigali. Hutus, who participated in the genocide as well as Hutu civilians for fear of reprisal, fled to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, while officials looted state coffers and fled to France.

Numbers of victims

It is difficult to provide an accurate figure for the number of victims, as mass graves are still being discovered today. In January of this year, for example, a site containing the remains of 119 people was discovered in the Hue region of southern Rwanda.

The United Nations said that 800,000 Rwandans were killed in the genocide that lasted 3 months, but other estimates indicate that about 500,000 people were killed, while the Rwandan government estimates the number of victims at more than one million people.

There are also no statistics for the numbers of Hutus and Tutsis, and the government has completely abolished any definition that shows ethnic affiliation in its population censuses.

Before the genocide, the 1991 census estimated the Tutsi population at 657,000, or 8.4%, and Habyarimana's government is accused of deliberately including lower numbers to limit their access to education and other opportunities. Human Rights Watch estimates that at least 500,000 Tutsis, or 77% of them, were killed in 1991.

An estimated 1.1 million people were killed in total, including thousands of Hutus who died at the hands of the Rwandan Patriotic Front.

Hate media

Radio and Television Free and the state-owned Radio Rwanda were instrumental in stoking hatred against Tutsis throughout the country. Both of them fueled fears among Hutus about the possibility of the Tutsis returning to power.

The free radio station attracted a younger demographic and was an alternative to Radio Rwanda. Program presenters made derogatory remarks about Tutsis, dehumanizing them and describing them with terms such as “a dirty bunch,” and the terms “cockroaches” and “snakes” were frequently used on radio programs.

Radio Free was the first to accuse the Rwanda Patriotic Front of shooting down Habyarimana's plane. Months before the genocide, the radio station told listeners to expect a “major event,” according to media researchers who have studied its programming.

During the genocide, attackers roamed the streets with machetes in one hand and radios in the other, listening to Radio Rwanda and Radio Hurra mentioning the names of Tutsis or their protectors, and telling people where to find them.

What did the international community do?

World leaders knew about the genocide but did not intervene. For a long time, the United Nations avoided using the word "genocide" under pressure from the United States, which was reluctant to send in troops. On the twentieth anniversary of the genocide, former United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said that the organization was still “ashamed” of its failure to prevent the genocide.

President Kagame, who led Tutsi rebels and overthrew the Hutu government in 1994 and ended the genocide, said he was so frustrated by the world's inaction during the genocide that he considered attacking the local UN mission and stealing its weapons to stop the genocide.

Before the killings in early 1994, the commander of UNAMIR, General Romeo Dallaire, received intelligence about the impending killings and identified secret weapons caches stored by the Hutus. From January to March, he sent five letters to the UN Security Council requesting that the mission's mandate be expanded so that those weapons could be seized and troop numbers increased. His warnings were ignored.

When the killings began, the United Nations and the Belgian government withdrew peacekeeping forces. The work of the French and Belgian forces was limited to evacuating expatriates, and they refused to help the Tutsis.

France, which supplied arms to Habyarimana's government - despite knowing of plans to kill Tutsis - continued its alliance with the interim Hutu government in the first days of the killings. At the time, France viewed the Uganda-backed RPF as a hostile “Anglophone” force that would negatively impact its “African sphere of influence.”

The United Nations finally passed a resolution on May 17, 1994, imposing an arms embargo on Rwanda and strengthening the United Nations Assistance Mission for Rwanda (UNAMIR). However, new soldiers did not begin arriving until June of the same year, and the majority of the killings had already occurred.

Since then, Western media channels have been criticized for downplaying the genocide by describing it as “civil” or “tribal” wars.

International Criminal Court

The United Nations established the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda in November 1994, with its headquarters in Arusha, Tanzania, which agreed to host the court because “some of these people would not be able to stand trial in Rwanda, so this was the only possible way for the United Nations to establish An independent judicial system,” said Wohlgemuth.

The court prosecuted several prominent genocide leaders, including interim Prime Minister Jean Kambanda, who was sentenced to life imprisonment for incitement and assistance to commit genocide and failure to prevent genocide. He was also sentenced to two counts of crimes against humanity. The court convicted 61 other people.

Source: Al Jazeera