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Rwanda: How the genocide happened
17 May 2011 Africa
Between April and June 1994, an estimated 800,000 Rwandans were killed in the space of100 days.
Most of the dead were Tutsis and most of those who perpetrated the violence were Hutus.
Even for a country with such a turbulent history as Rwanda, the scale and speed of theslaughter left its people reeling.
The genocide was sparked by the death of the Rwandan President Juvenal Habyarimana, aHutu, when his plane was shot down above Kigali airport on 6 April 1994.
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A French judge has blamed current Rwandan President, Paul Kagame at the time the leader ofa Tutsi rebel group and some of his close associates for carrying out the rocket attack.
Mr Kagame vehemently denies this and says it was the work of Hutu extremists, in order toprovide a pretext to carry out their welllaid plans to exterminate the Tutsi community.
Whoever was responsible, within hours a campaign of violence spread from the capitalthroughout the country, and did not subside until three months later.
But the death of the president was by no means the only cause of Africa's largest genocide inmodern times.
History of violence
Ethnic tension in Rwanda is nothing new. There have been always been disagreementsbetween the majority Hutus and minority Tutsis, but the animosity between them has grownsubstantially since the colonial period.
The two ethnic groups are actually very similar they speak the same language, inhabit thesame areas and follow the same traditions.
However, Tutsis are often taller and thinner than Hutus, with some saying their origins lie inEthiopia.
During the genocide, the bodies of Tutsis were thrown into rivers, with their killers saying theywere being sent back to Ethiopia.
When the Belgian colonists arrived in 1916, they produced identity cards classifying peopleaccording to their ethnicity.
The Belgians considered the Tutsis to be superior to the Hutus. Not surprisingly, the Tutsiswelcomed this idea, and for the next 20 years they enjoyed better jobs and educationalopportunities than their neighbours.
Resentment among the Hutus gradually built up, culminating in a series of riots in 1959. Morethan 20,000 Tutsis were killed, and many more fled to the neighbouring countries of Burundi,Tanzania and Uganda.
When Belgium relinquished power and granted Rwanda independence in 1962, the Hutus tooktheir place. Over subsequent decades, the Tutsis were portrayed as the scapegoats for everycrisis.
Building up to genocide
This was still the case in the years before the genocide. The economic situation worsened andthe incumbent president, Juvenal Habyarimana, began losing popularity.
At the same time, Tutsi refugees in Uganda supported by some moderate Hutus were formingthe Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), led by Mr Kagame. Their aim was to overthrowHabyarimana and secure their right to return to their homeland.
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Habyarimana chose to exploit this threat as a way to bring dissident Hutus back to his side, andTutsis inside Rwanda were accused of being RPF collaborators.
In August 1993, after several attacks and months of negotiation, a peace accord was signedbetween Habyarimana and the RPF, but it did little to stop the continued unrest.
When Habyarimana's plane was shot down at the beginning of April 1994, it was the final nail inthe coffin.
Exactly who killed the president and with him the president of Burundi and many chiefmembers of staff has not been established.
Whoever was behind the killing its effect was both instantaneous and catastrophic.
Mass murder
In Kigali, the presidential guard immediately initiated a campaign of retribution. Leaders of thepolitical opposition were murdered, and almost immediately, the slaughter of Tutsis andmoderate Hutus began.
Within hours, recruits were dispatched all over the country to carry out a wave of slaughter.
The early organisers included military officials, politicians and businessmen, but soon manyothers joined in the mayhem.
Organised gangs of government soldiers and militias hacked their way through the Tutsipopulation with machetes, or blew them up in churches where they had taken refuge.
The extremist ethnic Hutu regime in office in 1994 appeared genuinely to believe that the onlyway it could hang on to power was by wiping out the ethnic Tutsis completely.
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Encouraged by the presidential guard and radio propaganda, an unofficial militia group called theInterahamwe (meaning those who attack together) was mobilised. At its peak, this group was30,000strong.
Soldiers and police officers encouraged ordinary citizens to take part. In some cases, Hutucivilians were forced to murder their Tutsi neighbours by military personnel.
Participants were often given incentives, such as money or food, and some were even told theycould appropriate the land of the Tutsis they killed.
On the ground at least, the Rwandans were largely left alone by the international community.Most of the UN troops withdrew after the murder of 10 soldiers.
The day after Habyarimana's death, the RPF renewed their assault on government forces, andnumerous attempts by the UN to negotiate a ceasefire came to nothing.
Aftermath
Finally, in July, the RPF captured Kigali. The government collapsed and the RPF declared aceasefire.
As soon as it became apparent that the RPF was victorious, an estimated two million Hutus fledto Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of Congo).
These refugees include many who have since been implicated in the massacres.
At first, a multiethnic government was set up, with a Hutu, Pasteur Bizimungu as president andMr Kagame as his deputy.
But the pair later fell out and Bizimungu was jailed on charges of inciting ethnic violence, whileMr Kagame became president.
Although the killing in Rwanda was over, the presence of Hutu militias in DR Congo has led toyears of conflict there, causing up to five million deaths.
Rwanda's now Tutsiled government has twice invaded its much larger neighbour, saying itwants to wipe out the Hutu forces.
And a Congolese Tutsi rebel group remains active, refusing to lay down arms, saying otherwiseits community would be at risk of genocide.
The world's largest peacekeeping force has been unable to end the fighting.
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Key Features
Rwanda: 100 days of slaughter7 April 2014
A good man in Rwanda2 April 2014
'I saw armed gang murder my family'8 April 2014
Mysterious death of a Rwandan exile26 March 2014
The photographs that reunited families5 April 2014
Persuading the rebels to go home to Rwanda11 February 2014
Genocide hunters: Fight for Rwandan justice4 February 2014
What Burundi could teach Rwanda about reconciliation13 August 2012
Profile: Rwanda's President Paul Kagame10 December 2010
Watch/ Listen
Rwanda: How life has changed7 April 2014
Rwanda's genocide, 20 years on6 April 2014
The Rwandan genocide: 100 days7 April 2014
Rwanda's children learn from the past7 April 2014
Rwanda: Haunted Nation
12/31/2015 Rwanda: How the genocide happened ‐ BBC News
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Background
Rwanda targets knowledge economy18 October 2013
Country profile4 May 2011
Related Internet links
Human Rights Watch report
United Nations
Rwanda tribunal
Republic of Rwanda
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external Internet sites
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