...The Role of the 1990-1993 Civil War as a Precursor to the 1994 Rwandan Genocide Nora Aly Student #10025622 Poli470 Words: 3,451 Introduction: Background of Rwanda Ethnic distinctions and fragmentations, whether actual or perceived have proved to be the causes of several genocides throughout history; in the case of the Rwandan genocide, this was no exception. The Twa, the Hutu and the Tutsi were and continue to be the groups of people constituting Rwanda (Pearn J, 203). Tensions and conflicts with groups in Rwandan society, primarily with the Hutus and the Tutsis eventually led to the immensely destructive 1994 genocide of the Tutsi people as well as Hutu people perceived to be Tutsi sympathizers and supporters. The 1994 Rwandan Genocide, executed mainly by Hutu powers, resulted in approximately 10,000 deaths for 100 days which is the highest rate of killing seen throughout any known act in history (Cohen, J). Within the time period of the communal existence of the Hutus and the Tutsis, political struggle, rivalry, colonization, and civil war were all factors that assisted in leading to the tension that finally erupted into a brutal act of genocidal violence against all Tutsi people. Close examination and analysis of the civil war which occurred during 1990-1993 between the Hutus and the Tutsis, will be elaborated extensively to assist in accounting for the eruption of the genocide. Through a close, detailed analysis of the political, ethnic and socio-economic factors that...
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...The Solution to Ethnic and Racial Civil Conflict Jacqueline Zhang GOVT 150W Introduction to International Politics Introduction Within a period of three months in 1994, an estimated five to eight hundred thousand people were killed as a result of civil war and genocide in Rwanda. Large numbers were physically and psychologically afflicted for life through maiming, rape and other trauma; over two million fled to neighboring countries and maybe half as many became internally displaced within Rwanda. This human suffering was and is incomprehensible. Similar ethnic and racial civil conflicts have deeply scarred countries and are threatening to break out in many places around the globe. Too much blood has been shed for ethnic and racial causes and too many have died in ethnic and racial wars. In accordance to the constructivist model of nationalism, identity (re)construction solves ethnic and racial civil conflict. Definition For the purpose of demonstrating how identity (re)construction solves ethnic and racial civil conflicts, “solve” can be defined as 1) to explain and 2) to put an end to, settle. In addition, “explain” means to make clear the cause, origin or reason of. Furthermore, an ethnicity is a population of human beings whose members identify with each other, on the basis of a real or a presumed common genealogy or ancestry. The term race refers to the concept of dividing people into populations or groups on the basis of various sets of physical characteristics...
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...African Culture of Rwanda Tutsi’s and Hutu’s The monarchy of the Tutsi was predestine for greatness but, due to the Tutsi’s believe Godly sanctions has occurred and the monarchy over power. I will make a comparison between the culture of Americans and Africans and the similarities of both obsessed ethnic groups in each society and is the culture and the conflict between the various ethnic groups. The Tutsi’s and Hutu's who had an essentialist that stereotypes a powerful factor in mobilizing civilian's to participate in the killing in of the lives of Rwandan's despite, the current state policies. Rwanda civil war began in 1994 where there were two ethnic groups called the Hutu’s and Tutsi’s. It was shortly after World War I when Belgium expanded control over Rwandan. The Tutsi’s were mainly chosen, because of their skin color. The fact’s that their skin was whiter than the Hutu’s. The Tutsi’s enter into a leadership position in which they promote discrimination against the Hutu’s. The Tutsi’s had favored over the Hutu’s because of how light they were. Additionally, they were position to receive the better jobs and better education opportunities but, between the two groups. The Tutsi’s is now as the majority in Rwanda compared to the Hutu’s. They denied Hutu’s the right to own land and a better education. They had to governmental representation in order to maintain the dominancy within the country. They figured out early on how to suppress there people...
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...CONTENTS Regional Conflicts in Africa • Introduction……………………………………………………………………….2 • Regional Conflict…………………………………………………………………...2 • Angola: • Angolan War for independence…….…………………………………………...3 • Angolan Civil War………………………………………………………………...5 • Sudan: • Darfur Conflict…………………………………………………………………....5 • Burundi: • Burundian Conflict………………………………………………………………7 • Nigeria: • Nigerian civil war………………………………………………………………..9 • Rwanda: • Civil War of Rwanda……………………………………………………………..11 • Liberia: • Sierra Leon vs. Liberia………………………………………………………….12 • Democratic Republic of Congo…………………………………………………….13 • South Africa……………………………………………………………………….14 REGIONAL CONFLICTS IN AFRICA Since gaining independence many West African nations have undergone political instability. There have been many wars in Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Cote d’Ivoire. Since the end of colonialism, West African states have often been affected by instability, corruption, violence, and authoritarianism. The region has seen the most brutal and serious conflicts that have ever taken place, such as the Angolan Civil War, First Liberian Civil War, Second Liberian Civil War, Guinea-Bissau Civil War, Ivorian Civil War, and the Sierra Leone Civil War. In this paper we’ll try to analyze the causes, costs and impacts of these regional conflicts and war, while giving a brief history of it. REGIONAL CONFLICT: According to Rightspeak Glossary, “Regional conflict is a war requiring violation...
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...COLLEGE THABA TSHWANE THE CAUSES AND DYNAMICS OF CONFLICT IN CENTRAL AFRICA By Ms C. Auret November 2009 This research paper was written by a programme member attending the South African National Defence College in fulfilment of one of the requirements of the Executive National Security Programme 20/09. The paper is a scholastic document and this contains facts and opinions which the author alone considered appropriate and correct for subject. It does not necessarily reflect the opinion of any agency, including the South African Government or Department of Defence. This paper may not be released, quoted or copied except with the express permission of the Department of Defence. INDEX |HEADING |PAGE | | | | | | | |Abstract……………………………………………………………………………… |3 | |Introduction………………………………………………………………………….. |3 | |Historical Review of Conflict in Central Africa ……………………………...…….. ...
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...analyze gender stratification and its relation to women in Rwanda; also the demographic imbalance in post-genocide Rwanda will be explored. In addition in the following paragraphs the current roles women in Rwanda play in the areas of economics, politics, and social development after genocide will be discussed. In Rwanda in 1994 genocide occurred with mass killings of hundreds of thousands of minority Tutsis and Hutu. The death tolls are believed to be 800,000 or more. The three main ethnic groups in Rwanda have a very long history of social differences. Although they had differences they were able to live in relative peace until German and Belgian colonizers encouraged the barely controlled animosity between the Tutsi, Hutu, and Twa to erupt into violence. Habyalimana was president at this time and his assassination started the Rwanda genocide, which became one of the most massive killings in history. The women and young girls of this country were the victims of rape, mutilations, and death. The Hutu’s targeted and killed Tutsi’s and moderate Hutu men which not only was this genocide but it was also focused on gender. During the genocide there were a large number of Tutsi males murdered throughout Rwanda, and even today the scars from this civil war are still being felt and it is evident in Rwanda’s demographic imbalance. It is believed by sociologists that the demographic imbalance will continue in Rwanda for many years. One effect that this demographic imbalance...
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...analyze gender stratification and its relation to women in Rwanda; also the demographic imbalance in post-genocide Rwanda will be explored. In addition in the following paragraphs the current roles women in Rwanda play in the areas of economics, politics, and social development after genocide will be discussed. In Rwanda in 1994 genocide occurred with mass killings of hundreds of thousands of minority Tutsis and Hutu. The death tolls are believed to be 800,000 or more. The three main ethnic groups in Rwanda have a very long history of social differences. Although they had differences they were able to live in relative peace until German and Belgian colonizers encouraged the barely controlled animosity between the Tutsi, Hutu, and Twa to erupt into violence. Habyalimana was president at this time and his assassination started the Rwanda genocide, which became one of the most massive killings in history. The women and young girls of this country were the victims of rape, mutilations, and death. The Hutu’s targeted and killed Tutsi’s and moderate Hutu men which not only was this genocide but it was also focused on gender. During the genocide there were a large number of Tutsi males murdered throughout Rwanda, and even today the scars from this civil war are still being felt and it is evident in Rwanda’s demographic imbalance. It is believed by sociologists that the demographic imbalance will continue in Rwanda for many years. One effect that this demographic imbalance...
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...destroy… a national, ethnic, racial or religious group.” In Rwanda, 1994 around one million Tutsi and Hutu opposition members were slaughtered by the extremist Hutu government the Hutu’s; the majority ethnic group in Rwanda. Their aim was to exterminate the minority of Tutsis, whom comprised about 25% of Rwanda’s population, and thus makes it one of the 3 genocides of the 20th century. In order to discuss the Rwandan genocide it is important to analyse the nature of the genocide and investigating the catalytic events that trigged the causing of it, in the first place. This includes the ethnic conflicts between Hutu’s and Tutsis, Western colonisation, propaganda, lack of international intervention and genocide denial. Belgium/Germany colonized Rwanda in 1916, due to the LON. The Belgians divided Rwanda’s unified population into a system of racial classification, mainly consisting of Tutsi’s and Hutu’s. With making the discriminatory system, the Europeans decides to make the Tutsi’s the more superior race, due to the Caucasian-ness of their physical features, when compared to the Hutus. As a result the Tutsi’s were given a more aristocratic appearance in Belgian eyes as they were provided with higher education and job standards while the militia relegated the Hutus to menial tasks. This created resentment towards the Tutsis among the Hutu which was further exacerbated when under Belgian imperial rule, the Tutsis and Hutus were all given cards indicating their ethnic identity. In the...
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...as the history of Rwanda, the environmental, cultural, political and the role of the media and how they contributed to the mass killings of the Rwandan population. Raphael Lemkin has defined genocide as the destruction of a nation or of an ethnic group. Moreover the United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide has stated that acts such as intent to destroy in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group all account for genocidal acts. In 1994 Rwanda witnessed the unleashing of the genocide of the Tutsi by the ruling Hutu led government. It had been stated that Rwanda erupted into one of the most appalling cases of mass murder the world has witnessed since the Second World War. From 1894 until the end of World War 1, Rwanda was part of German East Africa. An estimation of half a million people was killed. The killings in Rwanda fell into three categories; combatants killing combatants, Hutu citizens, parliamentary and military forces killing Hutu citizens because the victims were either moderate or were willing to live and work with Tutsi and the Hutu killing Tutsi because they were Tutsi. The population of Rwanda is made up of three ethnic groups. One percent of the population are Twa (pigmy hunters), fourteen percent are Tutsi (Ethiopian pastoralists) and eighty five percent are Hutu (Bantu farmers). The Belgians and Germans arrived in Rwanda in the 1900’s and wanted to control and rule Rwanda. The Belgian colonisers...
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...How has the United Nations performed as an agent of mediation and peace-brokering in ethnic conflicts? Answer with reference to the UN role in Rwanda and Sri Lanka. Dr. John O’ Brennan Founded in 1945 with lofty ambitions to advance prosperity and security in the world, the United Nations Organisation (UN) is best endowed to conduct preventive diplomacy by preventing disputes and conflicts arising from interstate and intrastate relationships. It may be argued that the UN currently possess the capability to prevent such conflicts and disputes from emerging and escalating into armed confrontation (Ododa Opiyo 2012:61). Having developed peacekeeping as a form of impartial interposition between belligerents during the Suez Crisis in 1956, the UN has continually broadened its sphere of action. The organisations first 15 years of activity entailed of 15 operations however, between 1988 and December 2012, the UN set up fifty-four such operations to restore or maintain peace. Those missions extended from “simple interposition, as in the case of UNIIMOG in 1988, to enforcement operations mandated by the UN Security Council in Resolutions 770 (1992) for the former Yugoslavia and 794 (1992) for Somalia” (Hatto 2013:497). These operations consisted of humanitarian assistance, election supervision, the repatriation of refugees, the disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration of former combatants, the restoration of a state's ability to maintain security out of respect for the rule of law...
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...For over a half of a century in Rwandas history, the Tutsi and Hutu tribes fought over power in a ethnic battle fueled by discrimination and harsh persecution. The Tutsi and Hutu tribes were pushed against eachother by foreign imperialistic powers until finally in 1994 a large scale incedent was finally sparked. The blame of this incedent cannot be put unto anyone without looking into the years of hatred that built up to it. Before the European occupation of Rwanda, The Tutsis and Hutus lived coexistent lifestyles. Tutsis and Hutus were separate ethnic groups that lived peacefully. Some Tutsis and Hutus were local chiefs within Rwanda, and at this time there was no organized discrimination or Clashes between the groups. After World War 1, Belgium overtook Rwanda as a colony and established the Tutsis as the natural born leaders of the Nation. The once peaceful lifestyle that existed in Rwanda was no more, As all Tutsis were given Identity cards to distinguish them from the Hutu Subclass. During this period racial tensions mounted as the Hutus were oppressed. During the 1950s, the Tutsi Elite began to strive towards independence and lash out against the centralized belgian rule in Rwanda. In an attempt to silence this movement, the Belgian Government shifted their support towards the Hutu Majority who lacked experience in domination. Soon after, with the Communist nations in the United Nations supporting Rwandan Independence, Clashes between the weaker Tutsis and the now Dominant...
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...Ethnic Group Conflict Paper Deonte Jones PSY/450 July 5, 2012 Professor Eugene Schimmel Ethnic Group Conflict Paper Social cognition and social perception can be altered through external forces. As evidenced by the exploits of colonialism in Rwanda, the Hutus and Tutsis, two people from the same region in Africa with shared language and customs became the target of such exaggerated and contrived differences. Accordingly, the colonizers effectively constructed ethnic divides, constructed and reinforced differences in social cognition and social perception through repressive means. Even as they did so for the purpose of colonizing the nation and ultimately the minority the Tutsis, these efforts in cognitive reconstruction inspired tragedy. In fact, it led to unintended nevertheless grave consequences, which extended for decades. The Ethnic group conflict that caused problems was the problem in Rwanda East Africa between the Hutus and the Tutsis. According to Langford (2002), in 1994 the Rwandan genocide took place with more than 800,000 people slaughtered. Over the course of 100 days there were a half of a million people killed which is 20 percent of the country’s population. It was a long hold ethnic competition with the minority Tutsi, who had power and control over the country for centuries and the majority Hutu people who became rebellious in the early 1960’s. Discuss the concept of conformity and how it relates to your selected ethnic groups ...
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...Rwanda For over a half of a century in Rwandas history, the Tutsi and Hutu tribes fought over power in a ethnic battle fueled by discrimination and harsh persecution. The Tutsi and Hutu tribes were pushed against eachother by foreign imperialistic powers until finally in 1994 a large scale incedent was finally sparked. The blame of this incedent cannot be put unto anyone without looking into the years of hatred that built up to it. Before the European occupation of Rwanda, The Tutsis and Hutus lived coexistent lifestyles. Tutsis and Hutus were separate ethnic groups that lived peacefully. Some Tutsis and Hutus were local chiefs within Rwanda, and at this time there was no organized discrimination or Clashes between the groups. After World War 1, Belgium overtook Rwanda as a colony and established the Tutsis as the natural born leaders of the Nation. The once peaceful lifestyle that existed in Rwanda was no more, As all Tutsis were given Identity cards to distinguish them from the Hutu Subclass. During this period racial tensions mounted as the Hutus were oppressed. During the 1950s, the Tutsi Elite began to strive towards independence and lash out against the centralized belgian rule in Rwanda. In an attempt to silence this movement, the Belgian Government shifted their support towards the Hutu Majority who lacked experience in domination. Soon after, with the Communist nations in the United Nations supporting Rwandan Independence, Clashes between the weaker Tutsis and...
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...Ethnic Conflict in Emerging Democracies Rwanda & Sri Lanka SOC300036VAO16*1114*001 Sociology of Developing Countries Instructor: Professor CERTIFICATION OF AUTHORSHIP: I certify that I am the author of this paper and that any assistance received in its presentation is acknowledged and disclosed in the paper (at the end). I have also cited any sources from which I used data, ideas, or words, either quoted directly or paraphrased. I also certify that this paper was prepared specifically for this course and has not been used for another course (and will not be) either in whole or substantial part. NAME AND DATE: Abstract Interethnic conflict in developing countries can cause many problems that can be very hard to solve. When countries have harsh dictatorships or communism the ethnic conflicts with its people can be squelched to a certain extent. As the country breaks free and heads towards democracy ethnic issues can stun or stop democratic growth. In other cases countries that have never experienced constant leadership and a solid form of government tend to have on again off again ethnic and civil unrest. In this paper we will examine the relevance of problems of multi-racial or multi-cultural political and social relations in the areas of Sri Lanka and Rwanda. These two areas have a long history of civil unrest, shoddy government, and ethnic conflict. Although these are some of the cornerstone issues that have contributed...
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...dating back to the early eighteen hundreds established to justify a war or hold individuals accountable for cruel and inhumane treatment during a time of war, but not always adhered to by countries. The United Nations established international laws such as the Nuremberg Principles and the Genocide Convention to hold individual responsible for crimes against humanity. Countries have engaged in war crimes for thousands of years in violation of the established laws and customs of war. Torture, rape, massacres, genocide, and atrocities documented over centuries continue today. This paper will discuss some of the heinous crimes committed during War World II Holocaust and the Hutu massacre of the Tutsis. War Crimes the Executioners and the Victims of Genocide Military powers around the world inflict some of the most atrocious crimes against humanity, and in each case, there are executioners and victims of these crimes that never get fair justice. “ The German concentration camps of World War II, the horrors of the Vietnam War, the prolific rape and brutality during the break- up of the former Yugoslavia and the Hutu massacres of the Tutsis in Rwanda,” ("20th Century," n.d., p. 5) are just a few named conflicts that displayed devastating atrocities. The executioners in the World War II Holocaust and the Hutu Massacres in Rwanda caused terrible massacre to the human race more than any other conflict in history. These crimes all have a negative impact on the country and...
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