Genocide_in_Rwanda

Genocide in Rwanda Genocide in Rwanda The definition of genocide as given in the Webster’s College Dictionary is “The deliberate and systematic extermination of a national, racial, political, or cultural group.” This definition depicts the situation in 1994 of Rwanda, a small, poor, central African country. The Rwandan genocide was the systematic extermination of over eight hundred thousand Tutsi, an ethnic group in Rwanda, by the Hutu, another ethnic group in Rwanda. In this essay I will briefly describe the history of the conflict of the Hutu and Tutsi, the 100 days of genocide in 1994, and the affects of the massacre on the economy and the people of Rwanda. To fully understand why this slaughter occurred, we must first look at the history of the Hutu and the Tutsi. In the early 1900’s, the Tutsi were placed in positions of power by Belgium, because they looked “whiter”. Governed by Belgium’s racist way of thought, ethnic identity cards were introduced. The Catholic Church supported the Tutsi and the new social order and educated the Tutsi and imposed their religion on them. Though the population of Rwanda was ninety percent Hutu, they were denied land ownership, education, and positions of power. In the tutsi, rwanda, hutu, genocide, rwandan, 1994, ethnic, war, power, being, systematic, positions, people, patriotic, hundred, group, extermination, economy, country, coffee, because, army, webster’s, united, trial, thousand, though, supported, small, revenge, regain, rebel, put, population, poor, planning