Rwanda 1994 800,000 Deaths
By the end of 1994, 800,000 Tutsis were killed by Hutus using machetes and other weapons, with an estimated 10,000 killed each day.
With just 7 million people, Rwanda is one of the smallest countries in Africa and has two main ethnic groups, the Hutu and the Tutsi. The Hutus account for 90 percent of the population, however in the past the Tutsi minority was considered the aristocracy of Rwanda and dominated Hutu peasants.
After the independence from Belgium in 1962, the Hutus reversed the roles by seizing power and started oppressing the Tutsis with violence and discrimination. Because of this many Tutsis fled Rwanda and went to neighboring countries.
In 1994, a rebel army formed by the Tutsis who fled Rwanda, called "Rwanda Patriotic Front", forced the Hutu President Juvenal Habyalimana into signing an accord which declared that the Hutus and Tutsis would share power.
Ethnic tensions in Rwanda were significantly heightened in October 1993 upon the assassination of Melchior Ndadaye, the first popularly elected Hutu president of neighboring Burundi.
Peace was threatened by Hutu extremists who were against sharing any power with the Tutsis. Among these extremists were those who wanted the actual extermination of the Tutsis.
In April 1994, Rwandan President Habyalimana and Burundi's new President, Cyprien Ntaryamira, held several peace meetings with Tutsi rebels. On April 6, while returning from a meeting in Tanzania, a small jet carrying the two presidents was shot down by missiles. Immediately after their deaths, Rwanda plunged into violence as Hutu extremists began targeting prominent opposition figures who were on their death-lists, including moderate Hutu politicians and Tutsi leaders.
The killings then spread throughout the country as Hutus, armed with machetes, clubs, guns and grenades, began killing Tutsi civilians. All individuals in Rwanda carried identification cards specifying their ethnic background (Hutu or Tutsi). These 'tribal cards' now meant the difference between life and death.
The small U.N. peacekeeping force, stationed in Rwanda, was overwhelmed as terrified Tutsi families and moderate politicians sought protection.
Among the peacekeepers were ten soldiers from Belgium who were captured by the Hutus, tortured and murdered. As a result, the United States, France, Belgium, and Italy all began evacuating their own personnel from Rwanda.
However, no effort was made to evacuate Tutsi civilians or Hutu moderates. They were left behind entirely at the mercy of the Hutu.
On April 21, it was estimated that hundreds of thousands of Tutsi had already been killed since April 6.
The U.N. Security Council responded to the crisis by voting to abandon Rwanda. The U.N. peacekeeping troops were pulled out, leaving behind a only 200 soldiers for the entire country.
The Hutu, now without opposition from the world, engaged in genocide, clubbing and hacking to death Tutsi families with machetes everywhere. The Rwandan state radio, controlled by Hutu extremists, even pinpointed the locations of Tutsis in hiding.
Many Tutsis took refuge in churches. They became the scenes of some of the worst massacres. Hospitals also became targets as wounded survivors were found and then killed.
In some villages, extremists forced Hutus to kill their Tutsi neighbors or face a death sentence for themselves and their entire families. They also forced Tutsis to kill members of their own families.
An estimated 500,000 Tutsis had been slaughtered by May. Bodies were now commonly seen floating down the Kigara River into Lake Victoria.
The killings only ended after armed Tutsi rebels, from neighboring countries, managed to defeat the Hutus and stop the genocide in July 1994. By then, over one-tenth of the population, an estimated 800,000, had been killed.
With just 7 million people, Rwanda is one of the smallest countries in Africa and has two main ethnic groups, the Hutu and the Tutsi. The Hutus account for 90 percent of the population, however in the past the Tutsi minority was considered the aristocracy of Rwanda and dominated Hutu peasants.
After the independence from Belgium in 1962, the Hutus reversed the roles by seizing power and started oppressing the Tutsis with violence and discrimination. Because of this many Tutsis fled Rwanda and went to neighboring countries.
In 1994, a rebel army formed by the Tutsis who fled Rwanda, called "Rwanda Patriotic Front", forced the Hutu President Juvenal Habyalimana into signing an accord which declared that the Hutus and Tutsis would share power.
Ethnic tensions in Rwanda were significantly heightened in October 1993 upon the assassination of Melchior Ndadaye, the first popularly elected Hutu president of neighboring Burundi.
Peace was threatened by Hutu extremists who were against sharing any power with the Tutsis. Among these extremists were those who wanted the actual extermination of the Tutsis.
In April 1994, Rwandan President Habyalimana and Burundi's new President, Cyprien Ntaryamira, held several peace meetings with Tutsi rebels. On April 6, while returning from a meeting in Tanzania, a small jet carrying the two presidents was shot down by missiles. Immediately after their deaths, Rwanda plunged into violence as Hutu extremists began targeting prominent opposition figures who were on their death-lists, including moderate Hutu politicians and Tutsi leaders.
The killings then spread throughout the country as Hutus, armed with machetes, clubs, guns and grenades, began killing Tutsi civilians. All individuals in Rwanda carried identification cards specifying their ethnic background (Hutu or Tutsi). These 'tribal cards' now meant the difference between life and death.
The small U.N. peacekeeping force, stationed in Rwanda, was overwhelmed as terrified Tutsi families and moderate politicians sought protection.
Among the peacekeepers were ten soldiers from Belgium who were captured by the Hutus, tortured and murdered. As a result, the United States, France, Belgium, and Italy all began evacuating their own personnel from Rwanda.
However, no effort was made to evacuate Tutsi civilians or Hutu moderates. They were left behind entirely at the mercy of the Hutu.
On April 21, it was estimated that hundreds of thousands of Tutsi had already been killed since April 6.
The U.N. Security Council responded to the crisis by voting to abandon Rwanda. The U.N. peacekeeping troops were pulled out, leaving behind a only 200 soldiers for the entire country.
The Hutu, now without opposition from the world, engaged in genocide, clubbing and hacking to death Tutsi families with machetes everywhere. The Rwandan state radio, controlled by Hutu extremists, even pinpointed the locations of Tutsis in hiding.
Many Tutsis took refuge in churches. They became the scenes of some of the worst massacres. Hospitals also became targets as wounded survivors were found and then killed.
In some villages, extremists forced Hutus to kill their Tutsi neighbors or face a death sentence for themselves and their entire families. They also forced Tutsis to kill members of their own families.
An estimated 500,000 Tutsis had been slaughtered by May. Bodies were now commonly seen floating down the Kigara River into Lake Victoria.
The killings only ended after armed Tutsi rebels, from neighboring countries, managed to defeat the Hutus and stop the genocide in July 1994. By then, over one-tenth of the population, an estimated 800,000, had been killed.