1994 : Civil war erupts in Rwanda
On this day in 1994, Rwandan armed forces kill 10 Belgian peacekeeping
officers in a successful effort to discourage international
intervention in the genocide that had begun only hours earlier. In
approximately three months, the Hutu extremists who controlled Rwanda
brutally murdered an estimated 500,000 to 1 million innocent civilian
Tutsis and moderate Hutus in the worst episode of ethnic genocide
since World War II.
The immediate roots of the 1994 genocide dated back to the early
1990s, when President Juvenal Habyarimana, a Hutu, began using
anti-Tutsi rhetoric to consolidate his power among the Hutus.
Beginning in October 1990, there were several massacres of hundreds of
Tutsis. Although the two ethnic groups were very similar, sharing the
same language and culture for centuries, the law required registration
based on ethnicity. The government and army began to assemble the
Interahamwe (meaning "those who attack together") and prepared for the
elimination of the Tutsis by arming Hutus with guns and machetes. In
January 1994, the United Nations forces in Rwanda warned that larger
massacres were imminent.
On April 6, 1994, President Habyarimana was killed when his plane was
shot down. It is not known if the attack was carried out by the
Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), a Tutsi military organization stationed
outside the country at the time, or by Hutu extremists trying to
instigate a mass killing. In any event, Hutu extremists in the
military, led by Colonel Theoneste Bagosora, immediately went into
action, murdering Tutsis and moderate Hutus within hours of the crash.
The Belgian peacekeepers were killed the next day, a key factor in the
withdrawal of U.N. forces from Rwanda. Soon afterward, the radio
stations in Rwanda were broadcasting appeals to the Hutu majority to
kill all Tutsis in the country. The army and the national police
directed the slaughter, sometimes threatening Hutu civilians when
persuasion didn't work. Thousands of innocent people were hacked to
death with machetes by their neighbors. Despite the horrific crimes,
the international community, including the United States, hesitated to
take any action. They wrongly ascribed the genocide to chaos amid
tribal war. President Bill Clinton later called America's failure to
do anything to stop the genocide "the biggest regret" of his
administration.
It was left to the RPF, led by Paul Kagame, to begin an ultimately
successful military campaign for control of Rwanda. By the summer, the
RPF had defeated the Hutu forces and driven them out of the country
and into several neighboring nations. However, by that time, an
estimated 75 percent of the Tutsis living in Rwanda had been murdered.
history.com/tdih.do
General Interest
1994 : Civil war erupts in Rwanda
history.com/tdih.do?action=tdihVideoCategory&id=4900
1953 : Hammarskjold elected U.N. head
history.com/tdih.do?action=tdihArticleCategory&id=4899
1963 : Tito is made president for life
history.com/tdih.do?action=tdihArticleCategory&id=6860
#########################################
On this day in 1994, Rwandan armed forces kill 10 Belgian peacekeeping
officers in a successful effort to discourage international
intervention in the genocide that had begun only hours earlier. In
approximately three months, the Hutu extremists who controlled Rwanda
brutally murdered an estimated 500,000 to 1 million innocent civilian
Tutsis and moderate Hutus in the worst episode of ethnic genocide
since World War II.
The immediate roots of the 1994 genocide dated back to the early
1990s, when President Juvenal Habyarimana, a Hutu, began using
anti-Tutsi rhetoric to consolidate his power among the Hutus.
Beginning in October 1990, there were several massacres of hundreds of
Tutsis. Although the two ethnic groups were very similar, sharing the
same language and culture for centuries, the law required registration
based on ethnicity. The government and army began to assemble the
Interahamwe (meaning "those who attack together") and prepared for the
elimination of the Tutsis by arming Hutus with guns and machetes. In
January 1994, the United Nations forces in Rwanda warned that larger
massacres were imminent.
On April 6, 1994, President Habyarimana was killed when his plane was
shot down. It is not known if the attack was carried out by the
Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), a Tutsi military organization stationed
outside the country at the time, or by Hutu extremists trying to
instigate a mass killing. In any event, Hutu extremists in the
military, led by Colonel Theoneste Bagosora, immediately went into
action, murdering Tutsis and moderate Hutus within hours of the crash.
The Belgian peacekeepers were killed the next day, a key factor in the
withdrawal of U.N. forces from Rwanda. Soon afterward, the radio
stations in Rwanda were broadcasting appeals to the Hutu majority to
kill all Tutsis in the country. The army and the national police
directed the slaughter, sometimes threatening Hutu civilians when
persuasion didn't work. Thousands of innocent people were hacked to
death with machetes by their neighbors. Despite the horrific crimes,
the international community, including the United States, hesitated to
take any action. They wrongly ascribed the genocide to chaos amid
tribal war. President Bill Clinton later called America's failure to
do anything to stop the genocide "the biggest regret" of his
administration.
It was left to the RPF, led by Paul Kagame, to begin an ultimately
successful military campaign for control of Rwanda. By the summer, the
RPF had defeated the Hutu forces and driven them out of the country
and into several neighboring nations. However, by that time, an
estimated 75 percent of the Tutsis living in Rwanda had been murdered.
history.com/tdih.do
General Interest
1994 : Civil war erupts in Rwanda
history.com/tdih.do?action=tdihVideoCategory&id=4900
1953 : Hammarskjold elected U.N. head
history.com/tdih.do?action=tdihArticleCategory&id=4899
1963 : Tito is made president for life
history.com/tdih.do?action=tdihArticleCategory&id=6860
#########################################
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