History of Rwanda

• In 1918, the Treaty of Versailles made the colony of Rwanda-Urundi (former German colony) a League of Nations protectorate.

• Rwanda-Urundi was to be governed by Belgium.

• Rwanda-Urundi were two territories and were administered seperatey under two Tutsi monarchs

During Belgian Rule

• Hutu- Tutsi relationship became a class system.

• Tutsis were considered “better” and were given privilages and education even though they were the minority.

• Hutus were the majority of the population. They were considered insignificant.

• Tutsis were put in charge to enforce rules.

Under Belgian Rule

• In 1926, Belgium introduced ethnic identity cards that separated the Hutus from the Tutsis.

• These cards were later the deciding factor between life and death.

Under Belgian Rule (continued)

• In 1957, a party for the emancipation of the Hutus called Paramehutu is formed.

• In 1959, Hutus rebel against Belgian power and the Tutsi leaders.

• 150,000 Tutsis fled to Burundi.• In 1960, the Hutus win elections, causing

Belgium to withdraw, and Rwanda and Burundi to become to separate and independent countries.

Massacres in Rwanda

• After Belgian forces leave, a Hutu revelation installs a new president, Gregoire Kayibanda.

• The fighting in Rwanda continues and thousands of Tutsis flee to Burundi.

• From 1963 to 1973 Tutsis were massacred.• In 1973, chief army of staff, General Juvenal

Habyarimana, seizes power. He says he wants to restore order, but he really just restricts the Tutsis from being able to acquire 9% of available jobs.

• In 1975, Habyarimana’s political party, called the National Revolutionary Movement for Development, was formed. An army for this party is formed as well.

• In 1986, Rwandan exiles form the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), and they form an army.

• From 1990 to 1994 Habyarimana’s army kills thousands of Tutsis, politicians, and newspaper staff who disagreed with Habyarimana’s veiws.

• In February of 1993, the RPF attacks the Habyarimanan army in Kigali. Fighting continues for several months.

• In August of 1993, a peace accord was signed that allowed the return of refugees into Rwanda.

• 2,500 U.N. troops are deployed in Kiagli to oversee the execution of the accord.

The warning sent to the U.N.

• On January 11, 1994, Major General Romeo Dallaire, U.N. force commander in Rwanda, asked for protection because an informant told him of the Hutu’s plans to exterminate Tutsis and to kill Belgians to cause their withdrawal from Rwanda.

• Three months later this all came true.• The U.N. did nothing to prevent this genocide

from happening.

TO: BARIL/DPKO/UNATIONS NEW YORK FROM: DALLAIRE/UNAMIR/KIGALI FAX NO: MOST IMMEDIATE-CODE CABLE-212-xxx-xxxx INMARSAT: FAX NO: 011-xxx-xxxxx SUBJECT: REQUEST FOR PROTECTION OF INFORMANT ATTN: MGEN BARIL ROOM NO: 2052 TOTAL NUMBER OF TRANSMITTED PAGES INCLUDING THIS ONE: 2 1. Force commander put in contact with informant by very very important government politician. Informant is a top level

trainer in the cadre of interhamwe-armed militia of MRND. 2. He informed us he was in charge of last Saturdays demonstrations which aims were to target deputies of opposition

parties coming to ceremonies and Belgian soldiers. They hoped to provoke the RPF BN to engage (being fired upon) the demonstrators and provoke a civil war. Deputies were to be assassinated upon entry or exit from Parliament. Belgian troops were to be provoked and if Belgians soldiers restored to force a number of them were to be killed and thus guarantee Belgian withdrawal from Rwanda.

3. Informant confirmed 48 RGF PARA CDO and a few members of the gendarmerie participated in demonstrations in plain clothes. Also at least one Minister of the MRND and the sous-prefect of Kigali were in the demonstration. RGF and Interhamwe provided radio communications.

4. Informant is a former security member of the president. He also stated he is paid RF150,000 per month by the MRND party to train Interhamwe. Direct link is to chief of staff RGF and president of the MRND for financial and material support.

5. Interhamwe has trained 1700 men in RGF military camps outside the capital. The 1700 are scattered in groups of 40 throughout Kigali. Since UNAMIR deployed he has trained 300 personnel in three week training sessions at RGF camps. Training focus was discipline, weapons, explosives, close combat and tactics.

6. Principal aim of Interhamwe in the past was to protect Kigali from RPF. Since UNAMIR mandate he has been ordered to register all Tutsi in Kigali. He suspects it is for their extermination. Example he gave was that in 20 minutes his personnel could kill up to 1000 Tutsis.

7. Informant states he disagrees with anti-Tutsi extermination. He supports opposition to RPF but cannot support killing of innocent persons. He also stated that he believes the president does not have full control over all elements of his old party/faction.

8. Informant is prepared to provide location of major weapons cache with at least 135 weapons. He already has distributed 110 weapons including 35 with ammunition and can give us details of their location. Type of weapons are G3 and AK47 provided by RGF. He was ready to go to the arms cache tonight-if we gave him the following guarantee. He requests that he and his family (his wife and four children) be placed under our protection.

9. It is our intention to take action within the next 36 hours with a possible H HR of Wednesday at dawn (local). Informant states that hostilities may commence again if political deadlock ends. Violence could take place day of the ceremonies or the day after. Therefore Wednesday will give greatest chance of success and also be most timely to provide significant input to on-going political negotiations.

10. It is recommended that informant be granted protection and evacuated out of Rwanda. This HQ does not have previous UN experience in such matters and urgently requests guidance. No contact has as yet been made to any embassy in order to inquire if they are prepared to protect him for a period of time by granting diplomatic immunity in their embassy in Kigali before moving him and his family out of the country.

11. Force commander will be meeting with the very very important political person tomorrow morning in order to ensure that this individual is conscious of all parameters of his involvement. Force commander does have certain reservations on the suddenness of the change of heart of the informant to come clean with this information. Recce of armed cache and detailed planning of raid to go on late tomorrow. Possibility of a trap not fully excluded, as this may be a set-up against this very very important political person. Force commander to inform SRSG first thing in morning to ensure his support.

13. Peux Ce Que Veux. Allons-y.

continued

The U.N.’s response

• The response came was received by Dallaire on the same day.

• The U.N. peacekeeper told Dallaire that he did not believe the plans that the informant told Dallaire.

• Dallaire was told to tell the president of Rwanda about the informant, even though the presidents inner circle were the ones planning the slaughter of Tutsis.

TO: BOOH-BOOH/DALLAIRE, UNAMIR ONLYNO DISTRIBUTIONFROM: ANNAN, UNATIONS, NEW YORKNUMBER: UNAMIR: 100SUBJECT: Contacts with Informant 1. We have carefully reviewed the situation in the light of your MIR-79. We cannot agree to the operation contemplated in paragraph 7 of

your cable, as it clearly goes beyond the mandate entrusted to UNAMIR under resolution 872 (1993). 2. However, on the assumption that you are convinced that the information provided by the informant is absolutely reliable, we request

you to undertake the initiatives described in the following paragraphs. 3. SRSG and FC should request urgent meeting with the President. At that meeting you should inform the President that you have received

apparently reliable information concerning the activities of the Interhamwe militia which represents a clear threat to the peace process. You should inform him that these activities include the training and deployment of subversive groups in Kigali as well as the storage and distribution of weapons to these groups.

4. You should inform him that these activities constitute a clear violation of the provisions of the Arusha peace agreement and of the Kigali weapons-secure area. You should assume that he is not aware of these activities, but insist that he must ensure that these subversive activities are immediately discontinued and inform you within 48 hours of the measures taken in this regard, including the recovery of the arms which have been distributed.

5. You should advise the President that, if any violence occurs in Kigali, you would have to immediately bring to the attention of the Security Council the information you have received on the activities of the militia, undertake investigations to determine who is responsible and make appropriate recommendations to the Security Council.

6. Before meeting with the President you should inform the Ambassadors of Belgium, France and the United States of your intentions and suggest to them that they may wish to consider making a similar démarche.

7. For security considerations, we leave it to your discretion to decide whether to inform the PM(D) of your plans before or after the meeting with the President. When you meet with the PM(D), you should explain to him the limits of your mandate. You should also assure him that, while the mandate of UNAMIR does not allow you to extend protection to the informant, his identity and your contacts with him will not be repeat not be revealed.

8. If you have major problems with the guidance provided above, you may consult us further. We wish to stress, however, that the overriding consideration is the need to avoid entering into a course of action that might lead to the use of force and unanticipated repercussions. Regards.

April 6, 1994• President Habyrimana and the

president of Burundi, Cyprien Mtaryamira were killed. Habyrimana’s plane was shot down by suspected extremists.

• The Genocide started that night.

April 7, 1994

• The Rwandan Armed Forces (FAR) set up road blocks and went door to door killing Tutsis and moderate Hutu politicians.

• Thousands of people were killed on the first day.

• The U.N. forces did nothing to stop the killing because acting upon it would have violated their “monitoring” mandate.

April 21, 1994

• The U.N. had 2,500 troops in Rwanda, but after ten Belgian soldiers were killed, there were only 250 troops. The ten Belgium soldiers were ordered, by the U.N. force commander, to not resist violently to acts from the Rwandan Armed Forces.

• The soldiers were protecting the Hutu prime minister and they were disarmed, tortured, and either shot or hacked to death.

Fleeing from Rwanda

• As of April 30, 1994 the U.N. refused to call the mass murdering a Genocide.

• Thousands of innocent people were killed within three weeks.

• Thousands of Tutsis and moderate Hutus were forced to flee their homes and go to Tanzania, Burundi, and Zaire.

As of May 17,1994, the killing of Tutsis continues and the U.N. agrees to send 6,800 troops to Rwanda to defend civilians.

These troops were delayed because the countries in the U.N. were fighting over who would pay the bill and who would send the equipment.

The United States argues the cost of providing heavy armored vehicles for the peacekeeping forces.

So basically, while thousands of people were being killed the world was worried about money

Mass Murder Finally Called “Genocide”

• Over a month went by since the U.N. promised troops to protect the Tutsis. The troops were never sent.

• The French sent a force to Rwanda to create a “safe area,” but Tutsis were still killed there.

• The United States government then uses the term “genocide” to describe the actions taking place in Rwanda.

The Rwandan Patriotic Front Takes Charge

• The RPF force of Tutsis capture the city of Kigali in July 1994.

• The Hutu government fled to Zaire.• The U.N. argue over reports of the RPF killing

civilians as reprisal.• The killing of Tutsis in refugee camps

continues.

Throughout the genocide thousands of women were individually raped, gang-raped, raped with objects such as sharpened sticks or gun barrels, held in sexual slavery (either collectively or through forced "marriage") or sexually mutilated.

There were and estimated 2,000 to 5,000 pregnancies from the rapes of these women.

Children soldiers were brainwashed and often drugged during the genocide. These children killed hundreds of people because they were threatened and told to.

International Criminal Tribunal in Arusha, Tanzia

• In 1997 the trials against the suspected genocide perpetrators begin.

Those convicted and sentenced to death:

Jean Paul Akayesu Francois BizimutimaFrodouald Karamina Virginia Mukankusi

Venuste Niyonzima

Israel Nemeyimana was the first defendant to be found not guilty, because of lack of evidence.

Georges Rutaganda was sentenced to life in prison.

Results of the Genocide

• The genocide took the lives of over 800,000 Rwandans.

• In just 3 months, more than 10 per cent of the general population and approximately 75 per cent of the Tutsi ethnic minority population were killed.

• The amount of rapes will never be known.• Millions of Tutsis and Hutu fled to neighboring

countries during the genocide.

Medics removing bodies after genocide is over.

The unmarked graves of victims resulted in thousands of unknown deaths.

Refugees returning from Tanzania in 1996 after fleeing in 1994.

Refugee camps

Works cited

http://www.unitedhumanrights.org/Geenocide/genocide_in_rwanda.htmhttp://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0107926.htmlhttp://www.ppu.org.uk/genocide/g_rwanda.htmlhttp://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/rwanda/etc/cron.html