Rwanda: First Contacts- Europe

First Contacts-Europe

Rwanda was for centuries ruled by a centralized monarchy of Tutsi kings that ruled by having chiefs of different types: cattle, land and military. The king was highest in charge but the rest of the peoples lived in harmony. In 1899, Rwanda was made a German colony and during world war 1, 1919, Belgium took over control. [1]

When the Germans colonized Rwanda, the did not expressively change the social structure of the country, but supported the king and existing hierarchy and passed on power to the local chiefs. [2]

Belgium simplified the power structure and they introduced education, health, public works and agricultural supervision, also adding new crops and improving farming techniques to help reduce famine. [3]

Both the Belgians and Germans endorsed Tutsi authority. Belgium, 1935 introduced identity cards labeling each person as either Tutsi, Hutu, Twa or Naturalized. [4]

From 1959, the Tutsi were a target, which Hutu’s killed thousands of Tutsi peoples and sending almost two million into exile. The first republic, under president Gregorie Kayibanda and the second, under president Juvenal Habyarimana, institutionalized discrimination against the Tutsi and subjected them to massacres over many different periods. [5]

[6] Juvenal Habyarimana

President of Rwanda from 1973-1994

Pro-Hutu Belgians held a vote in 1961, which Rwanda voted to eliminate the monarchy. Rwanda was thus separated from Burundi and gained independence in the year 1962. Juvenal Habyarimana took power in a military coup.[7]

In the previous months prior to the coup, President Kayibanda had increased persecution of the Tutsi’s by allowing vigilante Hutu groups to enforce ethnic quotas. When Habyarimana took power, it was largely supported by urban population and indifference with rural communities. Habyarimana was a General in the Rwandan army before he became president.[8]

Pro-Hutu discrimination continued, but there was a higher economic gain and condensed amount of violence against the Tutsi. In 1990, a rebel group made up of mostly Tutsi refugees, called the Rwandan Patriotic Front, (RPF), invaded north Rwanda and started the Rwandan Civil War. 1992, the war weakened Habyarimana’s power, mass demonstrations of people forced him into a coalition and signing of the Arusha Accords. [9]

The Rwandan government and the Rwandan Patriotic Front met on August 4, 1993 to sign a set of accords called the Arusha Accords, which would end the three year Civil war. The accords established what the people thought would be considered necessary for lasting peace: rule of law, repatriation of refugees, and the merging of government and rebel armies.[10]

April 6, 1994 on this day the presidential airplane was shot down as it was flying towards the Kigali airport. The plane held President Habyarimana and the Burundian President Ntaryamira. This assassination was the catalyst for the Rwandan Genocide. Both Hutu extremists and the RPF were under suspicion for this airplane attack. [11]

Over the course of 100 days , the Rwandan Genocide, known as the genocide against the Tutsi, 500,000-1,000,000 Rwandans were killed. “from April 7 to mid-July 1994,^[1] constituting as many as 70% of the Tutsi and 20% of Rwanda's total population.”[12]