Period 6 Rwanda Genocide

RWANDA GENOCIDE 1994 Hi I’m Coco, I’m Katarina, I’m Candace and I’m Lila. We’re here to tell you about the Rwandan Genocide In 1994, over 800,000 citizens were killed over the 100-day period that is now known as the Rwandan Genocide. The genocide began when the so-called “inferior” group in Rwanda, the Hutus, wanted to break the spreading ideology that the Tutsis, or lighter skinned Africans, would eventually enslave the Hutus. The Hutus wanted to implement their power by taking control of the Rwandan government and eliminating the Tutsis. They assassinated their own Hutu president and framed the Tutsi group so they would have justification to start a civil war. The Rwandan genocide differed from others because the Hutus were using the media as a way to spread their cause of Tutsi elimination. The Rwandan genocide was fully covered by journalists and television cameras, but still no one made a legitimate effort to intervene. Other countries didn’t approve of the situation, but did little to help. The United Nations put forth the feeble effort of sending Peace Corps troops to intimidate the Hutus, despite the fact that the UN could not use their weapons. Canada was the only country that made a valiant effort to keep the peace, because other countries saw it as a civil brawl, and did not want to become aggressors. Overall, the Rwandan Genocide resulted in a large depletion of the country’s population through the execution of 20% of the Rwandan population.