In
1994 Rwanda’s population reached seven million. Three groups were organized
according to their beliefs: Hutu, Tutsi, and Twa. Hutu is the majority that makes
up 86 percent of the population, and Tutsi is 14 percent. And Twa is made of 1
percent of the entire population. A decade ago, we had a genocide caused by the
conflicts between two groups, Tutsi and Hutu, and the President Habyarimana was
killed after his plane was shot down and crashed. Hutu decided to declare
genocide against all Tutsis; they received an order from the headquarters of
the rebel leader. The massive killing of Tutsi began after the death of their president.
The
Rwandan genocide resulted in eliminating Tutsis. Even though Tutsi were an ethnic
minority, they did not want the majority group to occupy them. Hutu did not
want to sign an agreement to share power with the minority group. Both groups
disagreed and the conflict erupted like a volcano. These are some problems that
people could have solved peacefully, instead of using deadly force.
The Rwandan Tutsis looked up to the UN and United
States to stop this violence, but they were ignored as if nothing were
happening. “Not only did international leaders reject what was going on, but
they also declined for weeks to use their political and moral authority to
challenge the legitimacy of the genocidal government.” Rwanda’s Tutsi were
shocked and hopeless because they know they were going to get slaughtered. We
always ask ourselves why the world did not react.
Tutsis were suffering, waiting for help
until the last moment. Tutsi rebels could not do anything because they did not
have enough ammunition to defeat government rebels. Secondly, France and the UN
had their forces there to protect civilians, but that is not what they did. They
were silent killers. Tutsi rebels were not needed until the last moment when
the UN abandoned innocent civilians to get slaughtered in front of their eyes. “They
refused to declare that a government guilty of exterminating its citizens would
never receive international assistance.” Why did they not receive international
assistance? The UN was guilty of not doing so.
The UN was in charge of protecting civilians.
Even today we still ask the United Nations questions about why they did this to
us; their response is still unclear. There must be someone behind this bloodbath.
France gave deadly weapons to use against these civilians. According to the Human
Rights Watch, the United States and the United Nations were aware of the
preparations for massive slaughter and failed to take the steps needed to
prevent it from happening. How come the United States of America did not stop
France from supporting the killings? France was hosting the genocide in Rwanda.
The international community did not investigate or question France for
violating human rights. France gave machetes to the rebels that call themselves
“Interahamwe,” a terrorist organization that seeks to overthrow the government
using coup d’etat or using deadly force. These Interahamwe received weapons
supplies from France and Tutsi had enough evidence and facts to prove how
France was the behind the crimes.
The government of France was accountable for the
massive killing of innocent civilians, and it was in charge of the genocide.
Even today Tutsi are being targeted in Congo by Interahamwe, and they are accused
of much crime in Congo. Rwandese Patriotic Front (RPF) is hunting these
criminals who committed genocide. According to Gatumba survivors, in 2004 Tutsi were
targeted again in Burundi, in small city called Gatumba, where 166 lost their
lives. These 166 were innocent people who fled to Burundi for their safety. Again,
the international community did not do anything to bring justice. They were
refuges and still got killed. The Interahamwe seemed to have violated the
international law of not killing civilians. After France started the genocide,
they left so that Hutu could finish up their mission. It did not take that long
for RPF to react against this killing. The genocide lasted for one hundred
days.
Now, Tutsi rebels have one choice of dying trying
or fight against the government. At that time Paul Kagame was the rebel leader
for Tutsi rebels, they decided to take an action against the government
regimes. According to the United Nations Human Right Council “The civil war and
genocide only ended when the Tutsi-dominated rebel group, the RPF, defeated the
Hutu perpetrator regime and President Paul Kagame took control. But it was too
late, 8,000 people were already being murdered. If the RPF did not defeat Hutu
perpetrator Tutsi will be wiped out from Rwanda. Now the minority have been in
control of the government since 1994.
France has been accused of hosting the genocide. Who
can bring France to justice? Genocide survivors are still waiting for justice
to be done. French government is holding some criminals from Rwandan genocide.
The international court did not do anything to bring France to justice. Justice
must be served fairly and equally. Rwandan government is doing its best to
prevent the genocide from happening again. France does not have a diplomatic corps
or an ambassador in Rwanda because they committed a crime against humanity. France
is doing its best to build a good relationship with the Rwanda government. According
to Lignet.com since 2007 after Nicolas Sarkozy was elected he tried to improve
and restore the relationship with Rwanda.
They suffered to recover, but today Rwanda is continuing
to grow and improve; and develop its economy. Today in Rwanda, if you called
someone a Tutsi or Hutu you will to go to prison. It is a felony against the
humanity. All citizens are equal; they do this so that they could prevent
genocide. I highly recommend going to see the beauty of Rwanda and its culture.
Sources:
http://www.unitedhumanrights.org/genocide/genocide_in_rwanda.htm
http://www.lignet.com/InBriefs/Rwanda-France-Relations-Will-Likely-Improve-In-Aft.aspx
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