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Most people rate and describe World War II as the worst event to ever occur on the face of the earth. Considering lives that were lost and the amount of time it took nations to get over it, one would easily agree.
However, the second worst event would have to be The 1994 Rwandan Massacre, that most consider Genocide. The Night Mare that lasted a hundred days and took the lives of more than 800,000 Rwandans. If it wasn't for wrong decision makings of some foreign governments, a lot of innocent lives would have been spared. Prior to the massacre, Rwanda, one of the smallest countries in the world, had a population of roughly 8 million citizens.
The difference between a Genocide and massacre is small. Genocide refers to wiping out a whole population of a specific race, while massacre is basically mass murder regardless of race. What happened in Rwanda would therefore have to be categorized as a massacre, contrary to common belief that Hutus killed with the intention wiping out the whole population of Tutsis making it genocide. Hutus and Tutsis are two main tribes in Rwanda whose distinction is nothing more than physical appearance and origin.
Tutsis tend to be thinner and taller than Hutus. Hutus arrived in Rwanda from the west, while Tutsis were nomads that settled in Rwanda from Sudan.
The truth about the massacre is that there were murderers and victims from both sides. There are numerous books and articles and each with its own version. Although finding the real truth about it might be a bit difficult, all stories lead to one or two questions: Why did the massacre happen and why did the world as a whole fail to put a stop to it? One thing that is known for a fact is that Hutus and Tutsis are (and have always been) against each other. As a UCLA political science professor, Edmond Keller says, "A combination of historical discrimination and political policies contributed to the tension which culminated in the Rwandan genocide."
Throughout Rwandan history, there have been chains of events linked together. One particular event takes place, and as an outcome of that, another one takes place. Some people believe that if Rwandans weren't so much in denial and blinded to their actions, they would have seen the massacre coming, and taken certain actions. The hatred between Hutus and Tutsis traces its roots back years and years ago. Tutsis had always been the minorities, but in power. It was not until 1958 to 1961 that Hutus turned the tables and succeeded in having power in their hands that had previously been in Tutsis' for decades and decades. For all those years, Hutus had been Tutsis' slaves, being mistreated and murdered constantly.
Hutus having power in their hands was preceded by battles that led to a lot of blood shed of mostly Tutsis. They fled to neighboring countries to seek refuge, where they reorganized and trained themselves. They prepared for future attacks against Rwanda in 1990 but were unsuccessful. It wasn't until 1994, after the president had been killed, that they succeeded and now occupy the country.
The president of Rwanda in 1994, Habyarimana Juvenal's plane was shot down on April 5th and as a result of this tragedy, the very next day the killings begun. Barriers were formed on the streets of Kigali, the capital of Rwanda. People were being stopped, some were slaughtered, some were tortured in front of their families, and some were left alone. Eventually, the whole country had barriers everywhere and of course, the killings only worsened. After a hundred days, ten percent of the Rwandan population had been wiped out completely. Most of the victims were Tutsis, but there were some Hutus as well. Since killings started right after the president was assassinated, it is essential to pull a conclusion that the massacre was caused by his death. / When searching for truth in all of this, it is essential to recognized that the killings only begun immediately after the assassination of the late President Habyarimana. More precisely, the massacre was caused by those who killed him. Now the bottom line becomes who killed Juvenal Habyarimana?
This is where stories begin to differ in opinion. There are two main conclusions as to who killed the president and why. The first version suggests that Hutus have always hated Tutsis. They have always wanted to eliminate them, but the president stopped them. This caused Hutus to kill their own president then blame it on the Tutsis and use it as an excuse or reason to finally rid of them. The second proposes the Tutsis killed him because they did not like him, and they thought if he died, it would be easier for them to launch attacks on Rwanda, and have power back in their hands. All orders were given by Paul Kagame, Rwanda's current Tutsi president. These two very different versions make it hard for a truth searcher to discern which one is more accurate. There are multiple documentations that support each of the two versions, which creates even more confusion to which one should be believed or not. However, most documents support the first version, due to the fact that Tutsis are currently in power in Rwanda and they do not want to look bad. Rwandan citizens are ordered to answer the first version if asked what happened and why. Life threats are made to those who disobey it. According to a UCLA news article pulled from, ".Hutu President Habyarimana's plane was shot down. Though it is now known that his plane was shot down by Hutu extremists, Hutu leaders at the time blamed the assassination on the Tutsis, using it as an excuse to call on the Hutu population to eradicate the Tutsi people." According to an online article, "The Hutu fanatics who seized power blamed the Tutsi rebels of the RPF for the assassination, and used it to justify the genocide.to give them an excuse to start killing."
("President's plane"). These are just two of the many written documents that support the first version. It is hard to support the second version because there is not nearly enough proof available. The best way to find the truth however, is through an interview with someone like military personnel who has worked in the system and is not afraid to speak the truth. The problem though, is that everyone is afraid to speak up. Very few people are brave enough to stand up and speak up to support the second version.
On the web, there are two posted testimonies of two soldiers who worked for the current Tutsi president for numerous years. They fled the country in 1999 because they wanted to speak up against injustice that had been going on in Rwanda, but death threats had been made to them. One of the Testimonies given by Lieutenant Ruyenzi states the kind of acts that went on before the president was killed. Lt. Ruyenzi is the one Paul Kagame gave orders to. He would then carry out the orders or order his subordinates to carry them out. He was always by Kagame's side. He knew all the secrets. He knew every move Kagame was planning to do next although he'd be unpredictable at times. At one point, he mentions that the only time the president is smiling, is when he sees someone being tortured. He describes President Kagame as "a mean animal." In his testimony, Lt.
Ruyenzi recalls that "Paul Kagame is a very rough and security person. He has got a network of criminals who are by this virtue untouchable. They are ready to carry out any dirty mission that kagame assigns them. Those men are so deadly that nobody dares flee the country because they may be tracked anywhere and be killed.Major general Paul Kagame personally ordered the shooting down of President Juvenal Habyarimana's plane. I got astonished when I heard him denying it.Let me make it crystal clear, I attended the last meeting where the plan was hatched. I was there physically and I even know the names of those who carried out the shooting.
I was working with them in the High Command Unit. It is Lt. Frank Nziza and Cpl. Eric Hakizimana...and I have seen Col. Lizinde giving to Paul Kagame a map of the selected place for the plane shooting etc." ("Testimony"). This testimony along with its other companion, stand to be the best and most accurate proofs that would support the second version. Only a few people know about the two testimonies because they are still fairly new. They have been published in a book now that is in circulation, but has not yet wide spread. Both testimonies which are from two different individuals, clearly state that today's Rwandan president, Paul Kagame is the one who ordered that Habyarimana be killed. Individuals who wrote those testimonies are Tutsis just like Kagame, they were in the military working very close to Mr. Kagame, and they had very high ranks. In light of this information, people have now begun leaning towards one side of the story. According to another encyclopedia source, "Responsibility for the assassination has not been determined.but in January 2002 three Tutsi informants told the United Nations that they were part of an elite strike team that carried out the assassination of the Hutu President, with two rockets. They told UN investigators in 1997 that the killing of president Juvenal Habyarimana was carried out with the assistance of a foreign government under overall command of Paul Kagame"( "Human rights").
Speaking from what I know, I have lived through and survived those hundred brutal days in Rwanda. I am lucky to have survived but unfortunately I know dozens of my friends that weren't able to make it, they were killed along their families. I know what the truth is, and I know where it lies. The truth lies in Rwandan citizens. They know the truth, but they are afraid to say it because if they do, they will disappear. Mr.
Kagame personally would make them disappear. That is what he does best. I can clearly say he is an exact mirror image of the late Adolf Hitler. I would rate him to be the worst president ever to govern in the history of this planet, and I do not think anyone could surpass his evil deeds. No individual can force another individual to believe in one version or the other. The least than can be done is to give information of what is out there, and let people decide for themselves. The truth is right in front of their eyes, they just have to grab it.
The question that is on the minds of those who were somehow affected by the massacre is what almost everyone else is asking him/herself. That is, why did the world fail to stop the killings, or was the massacre so out of hand, that it was unstoppable? It is true that the world failed to stop the killings. The world pretty much ignored the fact that the whole country of Rwanda was under the shadow of death. Foreign countries that had citizens working in Rwanda rushed to get them out. For example, those who worked in embassies, world wide organizations like Red-Cross and so on.
They were rushed out of Rwanda, leaving their Rwandan co-workers and everyone else behind. The first major failure that occurred and significantly affected the remainder of the massacre was when UN pulled out half of its forces. Steve Forbes, "The UN has turned a blind eye to terrorism. It failed, miserably to stop the 1994 genocide in Rwanda.On the eve of this mass murder, Kofi Annan, then head of UN peacemaking efforts, pulled half the UN's forces, thereby giving a tacit green light to the slaughter that followed." (Forbes, 23). This caused Boutros-Ghali, then the U.N Secretary General, to pay a visit to U.S president, Bill Clinton. He addressed the problem to him, and according to Meyer, Karl E, ".Boutros- Ghali recalls a White House meeting in May 1994 at which to his surprise, the president all but shrugged off Rwanda.years later, President Clinton more creditably acknowledged American culpability in failing to respond to the Rwanda genocide" (Meyer 45). During the same very visit, "President Clinton . declined to commit any US forces to Rwanda." After the massacre has ended, according to the National Catholic Reporter, ".President Clinton, U.N Secretary-General Kofi Annan and the prime minister of Belgium have all apologized for not taking actions to end the genocide."
What happened in Rwanda could happen anywhere else. Whenever there is injustice anywhere, it is necessary that right judgments be made. Injustice must be fought against because "injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere", as Dr. Martin L. King Jr. once said. People might be confused and wonder about the Rwandan massacre, and be confused as to what version of story to believe, but it stands that if it wasn't for wrong decision makings of some foreign governments, a lot of innocent lives could have been spared.
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Article added to SearchWarp.com on Wednesday, September 07, 2005 View other articles written by Epaphrodite Dusingizimana(71)
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