800,000 people were mercilessly slaughtered in 100 days but that isn’t even the worst part. 5 million people have since then been massacred as part of the continuous conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Every year, Rwanda remembers the 1994 genocide but little attention is paid to the consequences of this killing that are evident in the multitide of dead bodies found in the streets of Congo. No one could have anticipated that a mere feeling of superiority would lead to Rwanda and its neighbour becoming a battlefield.
The ethnic disagreements between the majority Hutus and minority Tutsis were nothing foreign to the land but the animosity between them grew substantially during the colonial period. Belgian colonists regarded the Tutsis to be superior, thus endowed them with better jobs and educational opportunities than the Hutus. It comes as no surprise that this discrimination led to deep seated restentment between the two. Consequently, as soon as Belgium left the country, Hutus were quick to take charge and Tutsis were unfortunately left at their mercy.
When two groups claim a country to be their homeland and can’t even coexist peacefully, unrest is inevitable and that is what happened in Rwanda as well. The Tutsis couldn’t sit around being treated as scapegoats and planned a rebellion. This came in the form of the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), led by Mr Kagame, that consisted of the Tutsi refugees as well as some moderate Hutus in Uganda. The Hutus were quick to portray the rebellion as the joint effort of all Tutsis in order to win over the moderate Hutus as well. When Habyarimana's plane was shot down at the beginning of April 1994, it was the final nail in the coffin. This had an instantaneous and catastrophic effect.
In retaliation, the government initiated a campaign of retribution whereby the leaders of the political opposition were murdered. This soon expanded to a wave of slaughter amongst the Tutsis and moderate Hutus. The extremist government of 1994 genuinely believed that wiping out every single one of the Tutsis was the only way they could deal with the threat once and for all. The world’s largest peacekeeping force also fled the area after 10 of the UN soldiers were killed, thus the Tutsis were truly on their own. The tables turned, however, and the RPF managed to capture Kigala forcing a large number of Hutus to flee to Congo.
Although the genocide in Rwanda finally came to an end, the presence of Hutu militias in Congo has led to conflict, continuing to the present day. Decades have passed but the commitment of both parties to wipe out each other from the face of this Earth, is unwavered. Moreover, a Congolese Tutsi rebel group remains active, claiming that it is playing a vital role in ensuring that history doesn’t repeat itself. The United Nations has failed to establish peace in the region.
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