30: Rwandan Genocide

 30 years ago today (April 7, 1994) the Rwandan Genocide started.

The Hutus (Ethnic Majority Group in Rwanda) attacked and killed the Tutsi and the Twa Minority Ethnic Groups.

It ended after 3 months with 800,000 Men, Women and Children killed.

Most People were killed in their own Towns and Cities by their Neighbors with Machetes and Rifles.

Génocidaires (French for 'those who commit genocide') are Rwandans who are guilty of murder during the Rwandan Genocide.

 

International Role during the Genocide:

The United Nations (including the Peacekeepers of the United Nations Assistance Mission for Rwanda), the French, the Americans and the World did little to nothing to stop the Genocide.

US President Bill Clinton forced his Administration not to refer to the killings as a Genocide despite the vast evidence of the murders. Clinton also refused to send any aid to Rwanda until after the Genocide ended.

 

The Genocide Ends:

The Genocide ended when the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) – a Group of Tutsi Refugees – captured the Capital Kigali.

2 Million Hutus, including most of those who participated in the Genocide, fled to neighboring Countries where the Génocidaires carried out Cross-Border Attacks into Rwanda.

In 1999  a program of propaganda and Hutu integration into the National Army succeeded in bringing the Hutu to the Rwandan Government side and the Insurgency was defeated.

 

Rwanda After the Genocide:

The infrastructure and economy of Rwanda had suffered greatly during the Genocide. Many buildings were uninhabitable, and the former regime had carried with them all currency and moveable assets when they fled the country.

Human resources were also severely depleted, with over 40% of the population having been killed or fled. Many of the remainder were traumatized: most had lost relatives, witnessed killings or participated in the Genocide.

After the Genocide, over 1 million people (nearly one-fifth of the population remaining after the summer of 1994) were potentially culpable for a role in the Genocide.

Rwandan Genocide Trials:

The RPF pursued a policy of mass arrests for those responsible and for those persons who took part in the Genocide, jailing over 100,000 people in the two years after the Genocide.

Government institutions, including Judicial Courts, were destroyed, and many Judges, Prosecutors, and Employees were murdered during the Genocide.

Of Rwanda's 750 Judges, 506 did not remain after the Genocide—many were murdered and most of the survivors fled Rwanda.

By 1997, Rwanda only had 50 Lawyers in its judicial system.

These barriers caused the Trials to proceed very slowly: with 130,000 suspects held in Rwandan Prisons after the Genocide, 3,343 cases were handled between 1996 and the end of 2000.

 Of those Defendants, 20% received Death Sentences, 32% received Life in Prison, and 20% were Acquitted.

 It was calculated that it would take over 200 years to conduct the Trials of the suspects in prison—not including the ones who remained at large.

 

The Gacaca Courts:

In response to the overwhelming number of potentially culpable Individuals and the slow pace of the traditional Judicial System, the Government of Rwanda established the Gacaca Courts at all administrative levels of Rwanda and in Kigali.

The Gacaca Court System traditionally dealt with conflicts within communities, but it was adapted to deal with Genocide crimes.

Among the principal objectives of the Courts were identification of the truth about what happened during the Genocide, speeding up the process of trying Genocide Suspects, national unity and reconciliation, and demonstrating the capacity of the Rwandan People to resolve their own problems.

On June 18, 2012, the Gacaca Court System was officially closed.

It is estimated that the Gacaca Court System tried 1,958,634 cases during its lifetime and that 1,003,227 People stood trial.

 

The ICTR:

The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) in Arusha, Tanzania indicted over 93 people for Genocide.

 In 2020, Félicien Kabuga, the main Financier of the Rwandan Genocide, was found in suburban France after evading capture for over 26 years.

Under the Current 2003 Rwandan Constitution, "revisionism, negationism and trivialization of Genocide" are criminal offences.

 

Genocide Survivors:

A 2007 Report on the living conditions of Survivors conducted by the Ministry in charge of Social Affairs in Rwanda reported the following situation of Survivors in the country:

120,080 Most Vulnerable Genocide Survivors

39,685 Homeless Genocide Survivors

28,904 Survivor Orphans living in households headed by Children

49,656 Survivor Widows

27,498 Survivors disabled during the Genocide

 

Genocide Memorials:

There are 250 Official Genocide Sites in Rwanda, but there are 5 Main Genocide Museums and Memorials:

The Nyamata Genocide Memorial Centre: a Former Catholic Church 19 miles from Kigali where 10,000 Men, Women and Children were murdered. The remains of 50,000 Genocide Victims are stored and displayed  there.  

The Murambi Memorial Centre: a Fromer School where 65,000 Men, Women and Children were macheted to death.

The Bisesero Genocide Memorial Centre: where 40,000 Men, Women and Children were murdered.

The Ntarama Genocide Memorial Centre: A Former Catholic Church where 5,000 Men, Women and Children were murdered.

The Kigali Genocide Memorial has the remains of 250,000 Men, Women and Children stored and displayed here there.

 

Rwanda Today:

Rwanda (a Former Belgian Colony using French) made English an Official Language and joined the Commonwealth of Nations in 2009 (as one of 2 Countries that were never colonized by the British) because of what it saw as the Belgians and the French not helping prevent or stop the Genocide.

 

The Rwandan Genocide in Film:

“Hotel Rwanda” (2004): Film about Paul Rusesabagina, a Kigali Hotelier, and the events around the Hôtel des Mille Collines, a sanctuary for 1,000 Tutsi and moderate Hutu after its owner shut his doors against the Genocide. The film was nominated for multiple Academy Awards, is on the American Film Institute's list of the 100 Most Inspirational Films of all Time.

“Shooting Dogs” (called “Beyond the Gates” in the US) (2005). A Priest (John Hurt) and a Teacher (Hugh Dancy) get caught up in the Rwanda Genocide against the Tutsi in 1994. Dramatic feature film directed by Michael Caton-Jones.

“Shake Hands with the Devil” (2007). Dramatic feature film based on the Lieutenant-General Roméo Dallaire's book Shake Hands with the Devil: The Failure of Humanity in Rwanda. Dallaire was the Canadian Commander of the UN Peacekeeping Mission in Rwanda.