Genocide in Rwanda and Burundi Essay - 2206 Words

Genocide in Rwanda and Burundi Between April and July of 1994, more than 800,000 people, mostly Tutsi civilians, were slaughtered in a genocidal campaign organized by the Hutu hard-liners. By educating myself as well as others, I hope that we can prevent genocide organizers from eliminating the minority, Tutsi, and remove the tensions between these two groups. Pressure must be placed on the government to put the 120,000 suspected genocide criminals on trial . This topic is one of the most compelling human dramas of the century. Additionally, I am very interested in human rights violations that are occurring around the world and genocide seems to be the most extreme form of infringement. By studying the history of Rwanda and†¦show more content†¦They never organized a centralized political system, and their alliance is based on small units formed around clans. Furthermore, their head chiefs have made them very vulnerable. The Hutus race is Bantu, and therefore their ancestry is located somewhere in central or southern Africa. The third group the Tutsis, entered and conquered Rwanda through a combination of force and persuasion. The Tutsi represent a little more then 15 percent of the population and were militarily advanced compared to the Hutu. The Hutu come from Ethiopia, and became the most powerful tribe in Central Africa. The Tutsis acquired culture and beliefs from the Hutus. This aided in their assimilating and eventual success of tribal domination throughout Rwanda and Burundi . The Tutsi were clearly a minority in the region. However, to say that this minority dominated over the majority Hutu is too simple. The Tutsi were more numerous and dominant in some areas than others. The Tutsi adopted the Hutu language, customs and traditions. The Hutu and Tutsi still battle today as both groups fight for land, freedom, and power. Another significant actor involved with the genocide in Rwanda and Burundi is the east African neighboring nation of Tanzania. Tanzania has served as a place of safe refuge for the fleeting people of Rwanda ad Burundi. One example of Tanzanias Open Arm Policy was in 1993, when they accepted nearly 300,000 citizens of Burundi who fled for their livesShow MoreRelatedThe Tutsi And Tutsi People843 Words   |  4 PagesTutsi people of Burundi and Rwanda have been bondaged together by major events that have let to the Burundi and Rwanda Genocides. But there’s more to just the Genocides than what meets the eye. In order to understand what happened in the Rwanda genocide I must talk about Burundi and the Belgian rule. Hutu and Tutsi have lived in the same area for centuries and share the same language, religions, and even clan systems. Hutu and Tutsi have also intermarried for years before these genocides even occurredRead MoreEssay about The Role of the Media in Rwandas Violence1631 Words   |  7 Pagessituations and/or events that lead to a catastrophic outcome, such as the Rwanda genocide. The tension between both the Hutu and Tutsi already existed; it only needed something to reach its breaking point – a stressor. On April 6, 1994, the plane that occupied Juvenal Habyarimana, President of Rwanda, and Cyprien Ntaryamina, President of Burundi crashed due to unexplained circumstances. Over the next three months in Rwanda after the crash carrying both Presidents, mass killings began to occur. TheRead MoreModern Genocide in Africa Essay928 Words   |  4 Pageshave been two instanc es of genocide: the 1972 mass killings of Hutus by the Tutsi-dominated government, and the 1993 mass killings of the Tutsis by the Hutu populace. Both of these events in Burundi received different levels of attention by the international community and the western media due to a lack of foreign governmental interest, political distraction, and an unwillingness to acknowledge the severity of these atrocities in Burundi. Interestingly, events of genocide occurring at times withoutRead MoreLife Of The Innocent : Taken1425 Words   |  6 PagesInnocent: Taken As confirmed in Genocide in Rwanda the war that began April 6, 1994, mainly in Rwanda, Africa, lasted one hundred days and took close to one million lives of innocent people. Genocide is defined as the deliberate and systematic extermination of a national, racial, political, or cultural group. With Rwanda being the most densely populated nation in Africa, housing about ten million people, by the time the outside countries began assisting to stop the genocide hundreds of thousands wereRead MoreU.s. Foreign Policy : The Game Of Plausible Deniability1625 Words   |  7 PagesDeniability As I previously stated in the â€Å"U.S. Foreign Policy† section of my paper, the U.S. was spread across the globe in several conflicts. The U.S. had forces in Haiti, Somalia, the Balkans, and the middle East, so when the bloodshed began in Rwanda, the U.S. was not eager to extend it resources to another battle. John Shattuck, Assistant Secretary of State for Human Rights stated, â€Å"Bosnia was in one of its real crisis modes. The Europeans didn’t want to authorize American air strikes for fearRead MoreEssay on Genocide in Rwanda1440 Words   |  6 PagesGenocide in Rwanda Raphael Lemkin coined the term genocide in 1944. According to Lemkin, genocide signifies the destruction of a nation or of an ethnic group and implies the existence of a coordinated plan, aimed at total extermination, to be put into effect against individuals chosen as victims purely, simply, and exclusively because they are members of the target group. This coordinated plan is committed with the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial orRead MoreThe Genocide Of Rwandan Genocide837 Words   |  4 PagesEnglish 2:Period 2 20 November 2015 Rwandan Genocide INTRODUCTION After the atrocities suffered by the Jewish people at the hand of the Nazi regime, the United Nations formed the U.N. Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (UNCG), dedicated to the understanding and prevention of future genocides. The UNCG defines genocide as acts committed with intent to destroyRead MoreRegional State Failure With Weak Institutions1362 Words   |  6 Pagesregion. The countries that have been most affected by conflict in Africa’s great Lakes region are Burundi, DRC (Democratic republic of Congo), Rwanda and Uganda. The Tutsi’s and Hutu’s are two African ethnic groups that are not confined to one single nations border and are spread out through Rwanda, Burundi and Eastern DRC (Conflict trends issue 1). When an ethnic conflict breaks out in Rwanda, Burundi and Eastern DRC it easily has a transnational spill over effect because these states have weak governmentsRead MoreStrength Analysis And Evaluation Of Personal And Social Responsibility Essay1742 Words   |  7 Pagesman. Deo and his journey, surviving two genocides and how he got to America, and his journey afterward. A global theme that really connects to this book is, â€Å"the analysis and evaluation of personal and social responsibility†, but why? The idea of personal and social responsibility is that it’s what you are responsible for, it’s what you see as your duty personally and in a social environment. Deo feels very responsible for the troubles going on in Burundi, his home country when he moves to the USRead More Genocide in Rwanda Essay1123 Words   |  5 PagesGenocide War is not a necessary evil humans must endure. Although, war is not necessary, humans go to war to try to gain power, fortune, and to spread their particular group’s religions and beliefs. By definition civilization is an advanced state of intellectual, cultural, and material development in human society, marked by progress in the arts and sciences, the extensive use of record-keeping, including writing, and the appearance of complex political and social institutions. The chaos of war