In 1884, leaders from 14 colonial powers held the Berlin Conference, where they divided Africa into 50 countries and claimed them for themselves. The divisions were very crude and with little to no consideration of the common culture, history, and language shared by the African people.
The region that became Rwanda was given to Germany although after World War I, Belgium gained control of Rwanda. The Belgians wanted great control of Rwanda so in order to get it, they divided the unified Rwandan population into three groups: the Tutsi, Hutu, and Twa. In order to classify who was who, the Belgians had very strict regulations as to certain physical features. The Tutsi were thought to be a superior group by the Belgians as the Tutsi were more physically "white" looking than the other groups.
Since the Tutsis were thought to be more superior, the Belgians put the Tutsis in power over the other groups. They encouraged differences by discriminating against the Hutus and Twa. The Hutus, who made up 85% of the Rwandan population, were denied higher education, ownership of land, and political positions. Their resentment was ever-growing.
Tutsis wanted to have independence and were becoming more aggressive to overthrow Belgian rule totally.
In 1959, violence erupted between the Tutsi and Hutu. The Hutus overthrew Tutsi rule, declared an independent republic, and elected Greg wa Kayabanda as President. Tutsis were killed in the masses during the transition of Tutsi to Hutu rule. Hutus were very mad and seeking vengeance from the unfair treatment that the Tutsis had shown them.
The Hutus readied an army to carry out a massive genocide and while doing so, used the media to portray the Tutsi very poorly. They distributed lists of people to be killed, used the radio to broadcast messages of hate, and encouraged the killing of Tutsis and anyone opposing the Hutu regime.
The killings began the night that the Rwandan President Habyarimana was killed. His plane was shot down near Kigali Airport. The Hutu extremists that supported the President are believed to have commited the crime in order to prevet the President from signing peace agreements although it is not known for sure.
Some tools of Genocide were:
-Assassinations
-Death lists
-Hate Propaganda
-Demonizing
-Civilian Militias
-Rape
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