Rwandan Genocide
From Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Rwandan Genocide was an event that happened in the country of Rwanda in 1994. A tribe of people named the Hutu killed over 800,000 people of another tribe named the Tutsi. Some Hutu people who tried to stop the killings were also killed. The event is called Genocide because only the Tutsi people were attacked and killed.
Many countries and the United Nations did almost nothing to stop the killing.
[edit] 1994
The 1994 genocide started when the aeroplane of Hutu Rwandan dictator Juvénal Habyarimana was shot down on the night of April 6th. It is still not known who shot the plane down, though many people think that Hutu extremists shot it down in order to make Hutu supporters angry and start the 1994 genocide. Within a half an hour, roadblocks had been set up all over Kigali by the Hutu extremist Interahamwe and Impuzamugambi militias. They and the army soon began going house to house in Kigali, killing abatutsi (whom the killers called inyenzi meaning 'cockroaches') and moderate abahutu. By morning on April 7th the killings had reached full swing in Kigali. Roadblocks were all over the streets and dead people were everywhere. Interahamwe were running around with bloody tools killing and looting. Other countries' journalists were able to film many of these things. Abautsi gathered in places they thought would be safe, like schools and chuches. In a few days, the genocide had spread all over the country. Three days later, Westerners were taken away while Rwandans were forced to stay behind. One memorable case was at Rwanda's only psychiatric hospital, which had been surrounded by the Interahamwe. Belgian soldiers came to take away Westerners to safety. Journalists had come with them to film what happened. A large group of abatutsi came running out with their hands raised, asking for help. A few of them who could speak French tried negotiating with the soldiers for help. But the soldiers would not let them come. As they left, they could clearly see the Interahamwe starting to kill the abatutsi. Similar things happened all over Rwanda. Other countries would not help much. The U.S.A. tried not to call it a genocide. The French gave the Hutu army weapons. The genocide continued until the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) took Rwanda.
[edit] Recovery
Recovery has been slow but significant. A gacaca court system has been established to try the killers. A lot of victims are starting to forgive the killers, and it is widely said that the first step to preventing it from happening again is forgiveness instead of vengeance.
