History of Rwanda

In the history of Rwanda there were two known groups of people, the Tutsi and the Hutu. In the 15^th century, the Tutsi was in power and created a monarchy led by Tutsi mwami (king) with Tutsi nobles and followers. The two groups coexistence with each other and even cooperated with each other to live their daily lives. But there was a power difference and the rural Tutsis had a few advantages over the rural Hutus. The mwami submitted his power to German Count Von Goetzen in 1894. But soon later, the Belgian troops from Belgian Congo drove the Germans out of the Rwanda and took control.  Then the Belgians wanted to make Rwanda more democratic but the Tutsi traditionalist feared that, with making the country more democratic the Tutsi monarchy would be overturned, which did eventually happen in November 1959. The Belgians got help from the Hutu Leaders. This was the beginning of the disaster. Two years after, the Hutu created a party called the Party of the Hutu Emancipation Movement (PARMEHUTU). This party caused more than 160,000 Tutsi to leave to neighboring countries. Autonomy was then granted to Rwanda from Belgians on January 1, 1962 and their independence was established by July 1, 1962. Since Gregoire Kayibanda was the leader of the PARMEHUTU, the government was under his control and he wanted Hutu supremacy. This promoted more Tutsis to leave Rwanda. After many corruptions in the government, Kayibanda’s party was overturn by Juvenal Habyarimana to form a party called National Revolutionary Movement for Development (MRND). But during his reign, the Tutsi was still faced with more violence towards them and there was no consequence for the wrongdoings towards them.  After Habyarimana was re-elected again as president in 1983 and again in 1988, he believed that the large population of the Tutsi was too overwhelming for the country of Rwanda and did not welcome them back from their exiled. On October 1, 1990, the Tutsi who were in exiled created a revolutionary group called Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF). They blamed the failing democracy and not being able to solve the problems for the 500,000 Tutsi refugees living in the other countries around the world. They fought against The MRND government for 2 years until there was ceasefire that took effect in July 31, 1992 promoting peace and equal power sharing.  On April 6, 1994, there was an incidence of a plane being shot down with the passengers, President Habyarimana and the President of Burundi. Both of the presidents were killed and it caused mayhem; the military then rounded up the Tutsi regardless of their clan and killed them. The killing began from the landing spot of the plane, Kigali, to all around the country between April 6 and the beginning of July. This genocide killed over 800,000 Tutsi and others. The war between RPF and the military was still happening and the French forces tried to stop the fighting but soon later, the RPF was able to take Kigali and win the war in July 16, 1994. The result of the war is a disaster in the country and, “over 800,000 had been murdered, another 2 million (Hutu) had fled, and another million were displaced internally.”1 As time passed, the international community helped Rwanda build themselves up and helped the Tutsi who was in exiled come back into the country. A big part of the help came from the Congo, which is now in a joint-military with Rwanda to help stop Hutu extremist.  Now Rwanda on the road to a steady economic growth development and is in the process of rebuilding. The current state of Rwanda is still majority Hutu, and is now considered the most densely populated country in Africa. 

I studied Rwanda because I have heard about Rwanda but never knew much about it. I also remembered in High school, I had a guest speaker who spoke about the genocide and I wanted to know more about it since then. Surprisingly, the event happen in Rwanda. At first I didn’t know where even Rwanda was and I even remember hearing a movie called Hotel Rwanda that had the event of the genocide. I’m hoping to learn about the country’s economic group and how they are dealing with this event to see if I can learn how people resolve issues about poverty and stability around the world. 

Sources:

1- http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/2861.htm

https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/rw.html (picture)