How the rapes and massacres happened in Rwanda. Genocide in Rwanda

Why did the Rwandan authorities organize massacres of representatives of the Tutsi people in the spring of 1994, what role did the means play in this? mass media and why after these events Rwanda from a French-speaking country became English-speaking? Doctor of Historical Sciences, Deputy Director of the Institute of African Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences Dmitry Bondarenko spoke about this.

What was the cause of the genocide in Rwanda, when about a million people were killed in three months in this small, little-known African state in three months?

Indeed, these were one hundred days that truly shook the world. By the spring of 1994, the majority of Rwanda's population (85 percent) was Hutu, and the minority (14 percent) was Tutsi. Another about one percent of the population were Twa pygmies.

Historically, in the pre-colonial period, the entire political, economic and cultural elite of Rwanda consisted of Tutsis. The state in Rwanda arose in the 16th century, when Tutsi pastoralists came from the north and subjugated the tribes of Hutu farmers. When the Germans arrived in the 1880s, replaced by the Belgians after World War I, the Tutsis switched to the Hutu language and mixed heavily with them. By that time, the concept of Hutu or Tutsi denoted not so much a person’s ethnic origin as his social status.

- That is, the Hutus were in a subordinate position in relation to the Tutsis?

Not certainly in that way. In general, this statement is true, but by the time the Europeans arrived in Rwanda, the Hutu who had become rich had already appeared. They acquired their own livestock and raised their status to that of Tutsi.

The Belgian colonialists relied on the then ruling minority - the Tutsi. They introduced a system very reminiscent of Soviet registration - each family was assigned to its own hill (Rwanda is often informally called the “land of a thousand hills”), and it had to indicate its nationality: Tutsi or Hutu. The natural process of merging the two peoples was artificially interrupted.

In many ways, this Belgian divide-and-rule policy predetermined the 1994 massacre. The Belgians, leaving Rwanda in 1962, transferred power that had previously belonged to the Tutsi minority to the Hutu majority. From that time on, tension between them began to openly grow in the country. Clashes began, culminating in the 1994 genocide of the Tutsi.

Rebels inspect the crash site of Rwandan President Juvenal Habyarimana's plane.
- So the events of 1994 did not happen spontaneously?

Certainly. Interethnic conflicts in Rwanda have flared up before: in the 1970s and 1980s, they just did not reach such proportions. After these pogroms, some of the Tutsis took refuge in neighboring Uganda, where, with the support of local authorities, the Patriotic Front was formed, which sought to overthrow the ruling Hutu regime by armed means. In 1990, it was almost possible to do this, but French and Congolese troops came to the aid of the Hutus. The immediate cause of the massacre was the murder of the country's president, Juvenal Habyarimana, whose plane was shot down while approaching the capital.

- Do you know who did it?

It's still unclear. Naturally, the Hutu and Tutsi immediately exchanged mutual accusations of involvement in this crime. Habyarimana, together with the President of Burundi Cyprien Ntaryamira, was returning from Tanzania, where a summit of heads of state of the region was being held, the main topic of which was resolving the situation in Rwanda. According to one version, an agreement was reached on the partial admission of Tutsi representatives to govern the country, which categorically did not suit the Hutu leadership, who organized the conspiracy. This interpretation has a right to exist along with others, since the massacres of Tutsis began literally a few hours after the crash of the presidential plane.

- Is it true that most of the victims of the genocide were not even shot, but simply beaten to death with hoes?

Unthinkable things were happening there. In Kigali, the capital of Rwanda, there is a Center for the Study of Genocide, which is essentially a museum. I visited him and was amazed at the sophistication the human mind can show in inventing ways to destroy their own kind.

In general, when you find yourself in such places, you inevitably begin to think about our nature. This establishment has a separate room dedicated to people who resisted the genocide. The massacre was organized by the state, local administrations received direct orders to exterminate Tutsis, and lists of unreliable individuals were read out over the radio.

- Are you talking about the notorious “Free Radio of a Thousand Hills”?

Not only. Other media also provoked genocide. For some reason, many people in Russia believe that “Radio of a Thousand Hills” was a state structure. In fact, it was a private company, but closely associated with the state and receiving funding from it. On this radio station they talked about the need to “exterminate cockroaches” and “cut down tall trees”, which was perceived by many in the country as signals for the destruction of the Tutsis. Although, in addition to indirect calls for massacres, direct incitement to pogroms was often heard on air.

But then many of the Thousand Hills Free Radio staff were convicted of inciting genocide?

Many, but not all. The main “stars” of the radio station, Anani Nkurunziza and Habimana Kantano, appeared before the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, calling for live kill Tutsis. Then other journalists were convicted of similar crimes - Bernard Mukingo (to life imprisonment) and Valerie Bemericki.

Skulls of victims of the Rwandan genocide
- How did the population of Rwanda react to these calls in 1994?

It is known that a real massacre began in the country, but, to the credit of the Rwandans, not everyone succumbed to mass psychosis and state propaganda. In one province, a local official who refused to carry out orders to kill Tutsis was buried alive along with eleven members of his family. There is a well-known story of a woman who hid seventeen people under her bed in her hut. She skillfully took advantage of her reputation as a witch, so the rioters and soldiers were afraid to search her home.

The manager of the capital's Thousand Hills Hotel, Paul Rusesabagina, became a symbol of resistance to the madness that then gripped Rwanda. He himself is a Hutu, and his wife is a Tutsi. Rusesabagina is often called the “Rwandan Schindler” because he hid 1,268 people in his hotel and saved them from certain death. Based on his memories, the famous film “Hotel Rwanda” was shot in Hollywood ten years ago. By the way, then Rusesabagina became a dissident and emigrated to Belgium. Now he is in strong opposition to the existing political regime in Rwanda.

- Did not only Tutsis but also Hutu suffer during the 1994 genocide?

This is true - approximately 10 percent of the victims of the massacres were Hutus. By the way, Paul Rusesabagina, being an ethnic Hutu, accused the government that came to power after those terrible events of precisely this.

- How does Rwanda live now and has it overcome the consequences of the 1994 genocide?

After 1994, the situation in the country changed radically, there was a complete change of elites, and now it is actively developing. Now Rwanda is receiving large amounts of Western investment and humanitarian aid, primarily from the United States and the European Union. I myself saw that in local markets farmers sell potatoes in bags with the USAID label (U.S. Agency for international development) , that is, in bags of humanitarian aid - its size is so large. Rwanda's economy is growing, but the country is facing a very tough political regime. Although in reality Tutsis have been in power since 1994, the official ideology in the country is this: there are neither Hutus nor Tutsis, there are only Rwandans. After the genocide, the process of building a unified nation intensified.

Now Rwanda is trying to position itself as a modern state. For example, it is pursuing a policy of widespread computerization - fiber optic cables are extended even to the most remote villages, although the rural hinterland continues to remain patriarchal in many respects.

Today's Rwanda is oriented toward the West, primarily the United States. At the same time, China, as elsewhere in Africa, is active in this country. It should also be noted that several years ago Rwanda restored its embassy in Moscow, which was closed in the mid-1990s. Official language she changed from French to English. During the genocide, most refugees took refuge in neighboring English speaking countries, where a new generation grew up speaking almost no French.

Rwandan orphans
We have very difficult relations with France, which played a very unseemly role in the events of 1994. She supported the Hutu regime, which organized genocide, and many of its inspirers and ideologists fled the country on French planes. In modern Rwanda, it is still customary to have a negative attitude towards everything French.

- Why global community Did they realize it so late and actually miss the genocide?

Most likely, it underestimated the scale of the event. Unfortunately, massacres are not uncommon in Africa, and Rwanda was then on the periphery of international attention, preoccupied with the war in Bosnia. The UN caught on when the death toll reached hundreds of thousands. Initially, in April 1994, when the genocide had already begun, the UN Security Council decided to reduce the number of peacekeeping troops in Rwanda by almost twenty times - to 270 people. Moreover, this decision was made unanimously, and Russia also voted for it.

Andrey Mozzhukhin

The events that took place in Rwanda in 1994 are rightly considered one of the worst mass crimes of the 20th century. The country was divided into two warring camps and actually began to destroy itself. The rate of crimes committed in Rwanda surpassed even the Nazi concentration camps during World War II. During three months of massacres, about 1 million people were killed.

There were only minor differences between representatives of the two nationalities living in Rwanda, the Tutsi (who were the victims) and the Hutus (who were the executioners), but this did not stop them from starting to exterminate each other. So what is the genocide in Rwanda in 1994, how did people of almost the same blood begin to hate each other?

What is genocide?

In order to understand this terrible phenomenon, it is necessary to give basic definitions that characterize the events taking place and what the country of Rwanda was like in 1994.

Genocide is the purposeful and deliberate destruction of a nation, race or nationality. Genocide may also involve systematic indignity, psychological oppression that leads to a decline in morale.

Rwanda

Rwanda is small, undeveloped African state. The country is inhabited by several black ethnic groups. Rwanda on the map of Africa is located in the eastern part of the continent. The country has a very small part of cities and urban population. The capital of Rwanda is Kigali.

Tutsi and Hutus

The Hutu people still constitute the ethnic majority in Rwanda (about 85%). Tutsis, both at the time of the massacre and today, remain in the minority (14%).

Many researchers frankly do not understand why the genocide occurred in Rwanda. Both at the time of the massacre and today, there are no linguistic or anthropological differences between the Hutu and Tutsi peoples. Since the 15th century, the tribes lived quite peacefully: the Hutus cultivated the land, and the Tutusi raised cattle. The Hutus had a slightly darker skin color than the Tutsis and were slightly shorter in stature. But in general, the nationalities were close to each other. Only over time did the Tutsis begin to stand out social characteristics and created an aristocratic elite of society, that is, they became wealthier than the Hutus. This elite was a closed caste, and those who lost their fortune moved into the category of the poorest strata of the population, the basis of which were the Hutus. But the massacres in Rwanda arose not along social, but along ethnic lines.

Background to the conflict

Rwanda, a country of Hutus and Tutsis, came under German control according to the decisions of the Berlin Conference in 1885. But at the beginning of the twentieth century it was captured by Belgian troops and its territory was annexed to the Belgian Congo. From this moment the history of Rwanda as a country begins.

Since the beginning of 1918, according to the decision of the League of Nations, the country remained under the ownership of the Belgians. But it is interesting that both the German and Belgian colonialists appointed only Tutsis as governors in managerial positions, considering them more educated and responsible.

It was in the first half of the twentieth century that confrontations between the above-mentioned nationalities began; many Hutu were not satisfied with their social situation, and they began to oppose both the local Tutsi aristocrats and Belgian rule. Thus, by 1960, the monarch was overthrown in Rwanda. This was a direct consequence of the Hutu struggle.

In 1973, a putsch occurred in the country, as a result of which Minister Juvenal Habyarimana came to power (he remained in office until the beginning of the tragic events). The new president began to establish his own rules in politics: he created a party - National Revolutionary Action, and took a clear course towards “planned liberalism”, which assumed state regulation of the economy and private initiative at the same time. He planned to develop the country through external investment. The capital of Rwanda has become a modern city.

Rwandan Patriotic Front

In the early 90s of the twentieth century, an extremist group called the Rwandan Patriotic Front emerged among Tutsi emigrants. Radicals in foreign policy were guided by the United States and NATO countries, and already in 1994 their number increased to 15 thousand people.

The beginning of the genocide

The event that triggered the Rwandan genocide was the crash of a plane carrying the country's president, Juvénal Habyarimana, on April 6, 1994. After this, mass crimes against Tutsis began.

Another military coup immediately occurs in the country, as a result of which the Hutus come to power, subjugating the government, army and Interahamwe militia, which began ethnic cleansing of the Tutsi people. The massacre in Rwanda became a kind of retaliatory step to the emigrant extremists of the RPF, who wanted to take revenge on the Hutus for the constant protests in the country. In three months of atrocities, about a million people were killed.

The role of the media

All media, from newspapers to radio, actively fueled anti-human sentiments, which can only be compared with the fascist regime, calling for the extermination of Tutsis. Even the then head of the country, Theodore Sindikubwabo, personally called for revenge on the enemies. Meanwhile, the Rwandan newspaper Kangura published a manifesto called “The Ten Commandments of the Hutus,” which became the inspiration for the crimes.

Fanatical Hutus armed themselves with machetes and clubs and went to destroy their fellow citizens, neighbors and even friends, calling them “cockroaches” who did not deserve to live.

A striking example is the situation of a former employee of the prestigious Air Rwanda airline, Mkiamini Nyirandegei, who is still in prison for killing her husband and children. And there are many such stories of fanatical patriotism and selflessness.

Even Catholic priests often acted as provocateurs and instigators in these tragic events. They exposed places where Tutsis were hiding and called for massacres.

A striking example of such massacres is the massacre in a psychiatric hospital - Hutu militias massacred hundreds of Tutsis who were hiding here from the misfortune that befell them. The same thing happened at the Don Bosco school, where about two thousand Tutsis were killed.

The genocide in Rwanda was reaching its climax, and the cruelty was only increasing. Thousands of people were burned alive, boiled in molten rubber, had their limbs cut off and thrown into the river. Africa has never known such horror. Rwanda has become hell on earth in just a few months.

So, in the Sovu monastery they burned 7 thousand dispossessed Tutsis, who were not saved even by the fact that they were in religious building. The priests themselves gave their place, and according to some sources they acted as executioners. Thus, the propaganda of cruelty affected even church ministers.

Role of the UN

Since the beginning of the well-known events in Rwanda, the United Nations has occupied a neutral, observant position, which suggests the effectiveness of the activities of this organization. UN headquarters officially ordered not to intervene in the conflict. Although she knew about all the events taking place from war correspondents and informants.

Despite all further cries for help from the national elites of Rwanda, the UN made absolutely no attempts not only to intervene militarily, but also to introduce peacekeepers. All the time, the solution to the conflict was either delayed or even postponed.

But the Rwandan genocide was eventually stopped by the advance of the Rwandan Patriotic Front, which occupied cities such as Kigali, Gisenyi and Butare. About 2 million Hutu criminals fled the country, fearing revenge from the Tutsis.

What was the basis of the tragedy?

Can ethnic conflict be considered the main cause of the massacre in Rwanda? As you know, not only Tutsis were killed, but also Hutu who did not want to participate in the massacres. Some evidence says that the enraged “fighters” destroyed even those who were not their enemies. Therefore, the conflict has a more complex nature than nationalism.

Unfortunately, the history of many African countries (as well as the history of many European or Asian countries) has many dark spots: wars, disasters, epidemics, catastrophes, famines, and even such a terrible phenomenon of human history as genocide - the complete destruction of representatives of a certain people or ethnic group. The most terrible genocide in history was launched by Adolf Hitler against the Jews, its results were more than terrible - 6,000,000 Jews living in different countries ah of Europe, were destroyed by the Nazis, died in concentration camps, were shot and tortured. This is a great tragedy, but besides this there were smaller genocides, for example the Armenian genocide perpetrated by the Turks at the beginning of the 20th century, or the terrible genocide of the people of Cambodia perpetrated by the bloody communist dictator Pol Pot against his own people in the 60s of the last century. But there was one genocide that few people know about, and surprisingly, it happened quite recently, some 20 years ago, in 1994 in an East African country - Rwanda.

The victims of this genocide were 800,000 Rwandans (almost the entire population big city), representatives of the Tutsi tribe, who were killed by their own fellow citizens, also Rwandans, but representatives of another tribe - the Hutu. But before you understand why this happened, you need to look into the history of this African country.

BACKGROUND

Rwanda is a small country in the central-eastern region. Since ancient times, it was inhabited by several tribes, the largest of which were the Hutu and Tutsi tribes. The Hutu tribes led a sedentary lifestyle, engaged in agriculture, while the Tutsis, on the contrary, were nomadic pastoralists, with large herds of livestock (cattle and horned) roaming here and there. And of course, like any decent nomads, the Tutsi were more warlike, and at some period ancient history They conquered the settled agricultural Hutu tribes of Rwanda.

Further, Rwandan society was divided into two castes - the dominant Tutsi, who occupied all leadership positions (including the position of the King of Rwanda) and the wealthiest part of the population and the so-called “proletariat” Hutu. And what’s interesting for us is that representatives of both the Hutu and Tutsi tribes would at first glance look the same, but in fact they differ in some subtle signs: Tutsis, as a rule, have a slightly different nose shape. Also, for many centuries of Tutsi rule, mixed marriages between representatives of different tribes were prohibited, which led to the fact that these tribes did not dissolve into each other. (It’s a pity, because then maybe this tragic genocide would not have happened, as we see, racism, even African, between different tribes, does not lead to good).

But then the 20th century came, white Europeans came to Rwanda. The Tutsi kings initially swore allegiance to the German Kaiser, but during the First World War, Belgian troops attacked the territory and completely captured it in 1916. Then and until 1962, Rwanda was a Belgian colony. During the first years of Belgian rule, representatives of the Tutsi tribe retained their privileges and aristocratic position, but starting in the 50s, the Belgian colonialists began to curtail the rights of the Tutsi, and representatives of the “proletariat”, people from the Hutu tribe, were increasingly appointed to leadership positions. Among the latter, dissatisfaction with the centuries-old oppression of the Tutsi was also growing, which in 1959 turned into an open uprising against the Tutsi king. The uprising resulted in a real small civil war, which resulted in the abolition of the monarchy (in 1960), many representatives of the Tutsi tribe became refugees in neighboring countries: Tanzania and Uganda. Rwanda became a presidential republic and at the same time gained independence; the first president, and in fact the head of state, for the first time became a representative of the Hutu tribe, a man named Kaibanda.

However, Kaibanda did not remain president for long; as a result of a military coup, the country's then defense minister, Major General Juvénal Habyarimana (by the way, also a Hutu), came to power. However, this is a typical situation for African countries in the second half of the twentieth century, where military coups have become commonplace and even commonplace.

So the years passed, and the 20th century was already coming to an end, the 90s arrived, it had already collapsed Soviet Union, the world was increasingly gaining signs of globalization (the author of this article went to school at that time), in Rwanda the descendants of Tutsi, who became refugees back in the 60s, decided to regain power and created the so-called National Front of Rwanda (hereinafter referred to as NRF), who started without thinking twice fighting against the Rwandan Hutu government. As you know, one aggression causes even more aggression, and violence always begets even more violence, therefore, among the Hutu tribes, hateful sentiments began to actively grow against the Tutsi, who in their imagination were represented in the image of centuries-old enslavers. In addition, the Tutsi were often the bosses of the Hutus (and who generally loves their bosses), often the Tutsis were richer (and envy, since the times of the biblical Cain, has been the cause of almost all crimes). At the same time, the extremist Hutu organization Interahamwe (in Rwandan language - “those who attack together”) was formed. It became the main blade of genocide.

THE BEGINNING OF GENOCIDE

But let's take it in order: first, the President of Rwanda, the old warrior Juvenal Habyarimana, tried to settle everything peacefully with the Tutsi. This caused discontent among the radical Hutus. The latter, in the “good” African way, made another coup - on April 6, 1994, the president was returning by plane from some international African conference; already on approach to the ground, the presidential plane was shot down by a MANPADS (man-portable anti-aircraft missile system) by a paramilitary group of radical Hutus. The radical Hutus, who themselves committed this crime, blamed the hated Tutsis for the murder of the president. From that moment on, a wave of violence swept across the country, with Tutsis often living next door to Hutus becoming victims of their own neighbors. The Interahamwe was especially rampant, killing not only Tutsis, but also moderate Hutus who did not support this bloody madness, or even hid Tutsis within themselves. The Interahambwe killed all Tutsis indiscriminately, women, old people, small children. The rate of killings of Tutsi in Rwanda was 5 times higher than the rate of killings in German concentration camps during the Second World War.

A dozen Belgian UN peacekeepers who were guarding the Prime Minister of Rwanda, Agatha Uwilingiyimana, were also targeted. She belonged to the moderate Hutus and was a supporter of peaceful dialogue with the Tutsi. Therefore, after the death of the president, she became one of the first victims of the violence that soon swept the country. Her house was surrounded by members of the same notorious Interahamwe; the Belgian peacekeepers guarding the prime minister were offered to surrender, promising life, but were then treacherously killed. Prime Minister Agata Uvilingiyimana and her husband also died, but fortunately they managed to hide and save their children (they have now found political asylum in Switzerland).

RADIO 1000 HILLS AND ITS ROLE IN THE GENOCIDE.

A special role in the 1994 Rwandan genocide belongs to the radical Hutu radio station known as Radio 1000 Hills. In fact, the activities of the Rwandan “Radio 1000 Hills” are very instructive for today’s events taking place in Russia and Ukraine, when the media (rather disinformation) with their false reports (about “crucified boys”, “atrocities of the Kiev junta”, “two slaves” from Donbass”, etc.) are purposefully stirring up national enmity between the two peoples. Radio 1000 Hills did the same thing, whipping up real hatred and enmity among the Hutu towards the Tutsi tribe, “eating Hutu children,” and “not even people at all, but cockroaches, which all decent Hutus need to exterminate.” And you know what’s interesting, in remote Rwandan villages where Radio 1000 Hills was not broadcast, the level of violence was either several times less, or even absent altogether.

In fact, the Rwandan genocide is a very significant example of how the media (in this case a seedy African radio station) can influence public opinion, causing real mass madness when the neighbor who has lived next to you all your life, and a seemingly completely normal person, now goes kill you just because you belong to a different tribal ethnic group, because you have a slightly different nose shape. Now admit it, who has Russian acquaintances who also seemed to be quite normal people, and now they hate you for being a dill, a pravosek, a fascist cannibal Bandera and the list goes on. Now you understand why this happens, even if a radio station can actually kill. So it was in Rwanda, the radio really killed, with a radio in one hand and a bloody machete in the other, members of the Interahamwe went from one house to another, killing all the Tutsis, while being inspired by radio broadcasts calling for killing all the Tutsis like cockroaches. Now the radio DJ and its founder are serving life imprisonment for a crime against humanity - inciting genocide in Rwanda. Would it be interesting to see the same fair punishment for representatives of Russian media? Let's leave this question open.

ROLE OF THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY

I wonder what the international community did to stop the genocide. You know, absolutely NOTHING. Although, of course, at the meeting of the UN Security Council, representatives of different countries were very concerned about these events, but we know what their concern is worth. Even Belgium, which had its own peacekeepers killed, did not take any active action; at most, all the Europeans and Americans who were there at that time were urgently evacuated from the country. That's all.

The behavior of UN soldiers at the Rwandan Don Bosco school was especially shameful. The headquarters of the UN peacekeeping contingent was located there, and hundreds of Tutsis fled there under the protection of UN soldiers, fleeing the Interahamwe pursuing them. Soon the UN soldiers were given an order to evacuate, and what they did was simply leave hundreds of people, women, Tutsi children, who found temporary shelter in the school to their fate, in fact to certain death. Immediately after the UN soldiers left the school, the Interhambwe carried out a bloody massacre there.

COMPLETION OF GENOCIDE

After the beginning of the bloody madness that swept Rwanda, the Tutsi paramilitary forces located in neighboring countries, their National Front of Rwanda NFR immediately launched an active attack on the country in order to save their Tutsi fellow tribesmen. And since they learned to fight well, very soon almost the entire country was liberated from the radical Hutus, many of whom, in turn, began to flee from Rwanda, fearing now a retaliatory genocide of the Hutu by the Tutti.

The economic consequences of the genocide were terrible, soon after it came famine (after all, the harvest was not harvested) and all kinds of epidemics caused by terrible unsanitary conditions in the refugee camps, where Tutsis flocked to escape from the Hutu, and then Hutu to escape from the Tutsi. Let these terrible events become, at least dark, an instructive historical lesson for all of us.

GENOCIDE IN RWANDA IN CINEMATOGRAPHY

And in conclusion, this event was embodied in cinema, a good one about these events was filmed in 2005 under the title “Shooting Dogs” about the Tutsi girl who survived the aforementioned massacre at the Don Bosco school, about the shameful departure of UN peacekeepers, about a Catholic priest who found himself in the epicenter of this nightmare.

But best movie filmed behind these events is “Hotel Rwanda”, I advise everyone to watch it, it shows how a simple employee of a Rwandan hotel, by the way from the Hutu tribe, risking his life to save his Tutsi compatriots from his own fanatical Hutu compatriots. The film shows humanity, courage and nobility common man, who in this madness has not lost his human face. This film, like Shooting Dogs, was based on real events, everything shown there is not fiction, but actually happened.

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In 1994, Rwanda killed a million people in just 100 days. 10,000 people a day! Women, children, old people - the entire Tutsi people were killed indiscriminately. This is impossible to imagine, especially since all this did not happen some time ago, but during our lifetime, just 20 years ago. Unlike other acts of genocide, few people know about Rwanda, although the number of victims is simply incredible. It’s just that no one cares about Africa. Many people will not find Rwanda on the world map at all. Despite the fact that plans for the complete extermination of the Tutsi were known in advance, neither the Americans nor the Europeans intervened. More precisely, the intervention was limited to the evacuation of its citizens. Here I recommend watching the film “Shooting Dogs.”

In Kigali, the capital of Rwanda, there is a genocide museum. It is also a memorial to the victims of the tragedy. Those who survived come here, the last photographs of the dead are brought here. The heaviest room is with large children's photographs. Under each photo there is a short information: the child’s name, age, what he loved, who he wanted to become and how he was killed.

WHO ARE TUTSI AND HUTUS

The Tutsi and Hutu tribes settled in the territory of modern Rwanda many centuries ago. First, Hutu farmers came from the south of the continent in search of new arable land. Later, Tutsi pastoralists came from the north to the same territory with their herds. The situation was such that all power in their settlements was in the hands of the minority Tutsi. They collected taxes from Hutu peasants, lived in abundance and did not engage in manual labor.

First German and then Belgian colonists supported Tutsi rule. The reason was the origin of the Tutsis: Europeans reasoned that if this tribe had previously lived in the northern part of Africa, it meant that it was genetically closer to the Caucasian race and had superiority over the Hutu. The situation of the Hutus became worse and worse, and eventually in 1959, these people staged an uprising and seized power in the country. Ethnic cleansing began, tens of thousands of Tutsis died, and about 300 thousand more were forced to flee to neighboring countries. Rwanda was under Hutu rule until 1994.

CIVIL WAR IN RWANDA

The Rwandan civil war began in 1990. By that time, Tutsis, expelled from the country in 1959, had organized the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) movement in neighboring Uganda and planned an invasion of their home country. Tutsi troops hid in the forests and mountains, periodically attacking cities and waging guerrilla warfare. In 1992, they agreed to negotiate with the authorities. In 1993, Tutsi and Hutus signed an agreement under which members of the RPF entered the provisional Rwandan government, all Tutsi refugees received the right to return to their homeland, and both sides ceased hostilities. A fragile peace was concluded. A special UN mission of 2.5 thousand Belgian military personnel arrived to monitor the implementation of the terms of the agreement.

Radical Hutu were dissatisfied with the concluded peace. They continued to incite hatred against the Tutsis among the population and agitate for their complete destruction. Radical Interahamwe youth militant groups began to appear in the country, and the military trained them and armed them with firearms. In addition, the military “as a precaution” distributed machetes to Hutu citizens.

Hutu Army Training

In Rwanda, propaganda magazines were published, in which, in particular, the nationalist “Ten Commandments of the Hutu” were distributed. Here are the first 4 commandments. They say that any Hutu who has relations with Tutsi women is a traitor. It is also claimed that all Tutsis are unscrupulous in business and that the only thing they strive for is national supremacy over the Hutus.

There was also a radio in the country, which broadcast propaganda that the Tutsis wanted to regain their former position and make slaves out of the Hutus.

“Everyone listening to this: stand up and fight for our Rwanda. Fight with any weapon you can find: if you have arrows, then with arrows, if you have spears, then with spears. We all must fight the Tutsis. We must finish them off, exterminate them, sweep them out of our country."

“Mercy is a sign of weakness. Show them mercy and they will make you slaves again."

Propaganda on RTLM radio in Rwanda, 1994

REASON FOR GENOCIDE

The reason for the mass extermination of Tutsis was the assassination of Rwandan President Juvenal Habyarimana. It happened on April 6, 1994. The plane he was flying in was shot down by a missile on approach to Kigali. The radicals blamed Tutsi forces for the murder and refused to obey the orders of Prime Minister Agata Uwilingiyimana, who by law was supposed to become acting. president. They explained this by saying that they themselves would restore order in the country. The Prime Minister, her husband and 10 Belgian soldiers accompanying them were soon killed. Many other politicians who favored peace with the Tutsi and tried to pacify the military radicals also died.

Soldiers of the Rwandan Patriotic Front found the body of former Prime Minister Agatha Uwilingiyimana.

“Apparently, the plan is to destroy the real and potential allies of the RPF and thus limit the possibilities of resistance by the RPF and the Tutsis... There is no end in sight to the unprecedented bloodshed.”

“The Roots of Violence in Rwanda,” U.S. Department of State, Office of Intelligence and Research, April 29, 1994

The official investigation into the death of the Rwandan President found that his plane was shot down by Hutu radicals who did not want to make peace with the Tutsis and were looking for a reason to exterminate them.

THE BEGINNING OF GENOCIDE

A few hours after the death of the president, the military formed a Crisis Committee and immediately gave the order to kill Tutsis. The order did not only apply to the military: calls to take machetes and kill their Tutsi neighbors were broadcast on the radio to ordinary Hutu citizens.

Radio RTLM broadcasts calls to exterminate Tutsi cockroaches

The atrocities of the Presidential Guard, the Gendarmerie and the Interahamwe volunteer youth groups served as an example to them. And if one of the Hutu refused to participate in this or sheltered the Tutsi, then he was also killed.

100 DAYS OF GENOCIDE

The military and volunteers combed houses in search of Tutsis and killed them on the spot, sparing neither women nor children. Even before the start of the genocide, lists of Tutsi residents were compiled in many localities, so it was not difficult for the military to look for new victims.

“There was a terrible commotion: the Interahamwe broke into houses, slaughtered cows and killed people. First they killed my brother and his wife. Their bodies were hung from a tree by their feet. Then the killers led us to the well. They cut us up with machetes and threw us into a pit. No one from my family survived except me.

Before they threw me into the pit, I was raped. It was so painful and embarrassing that I wanted to die. I was only 25 and I thought that my life was worth nothing anymore.

They violated me and threw me into a pit with corpses. Some, like me, could still breathe, and when the killers left, we tried to get out. On the third day I succeeded, but that man was no longer able to do it. Most likely, he died there.”

Eyewitness testimony

The Hutus placed checkpoints on all roads. The documents of people passing through were checked, since Rwandan passports had a “nationality” column. If representatives of the Tutsis fell into the hands of the Hutus, they were immediately chopped down with a machete, and their bodies were thrown right on the side of the road. Later, people’s nationality began to be identified “by eye”: Tutsis were identified by the absence of traces of ingrained dirt on the palms, correct pronunciation, straight nose and tall stature.

“I managed to climb a mango tree. The soldiers didn't find me. But they came into my house and killed everyone who was there - mom, dad, grandma. I didn’t see it, but I heard their screams, screams and moans. When they fell silent, I realized that my family was dead.

They dragged the bodies out of the house and threw them in the yard. I couldn't help but recognize anyone. All the bodies were cut up and dismembered.

I sat on the tree for many more hours. I was just numb and couldn't think about anything. But then the feral dogs came. They walked around the corpses and ate them. It was unbearable, I climbed down from the tree and started running. I made a conscious decision that day that I needed to move forward and never stop.

I didn't eat for so long that when they finally gave me food, I couldn't even open my mouth.

The murderers of my family were never punished. This makes me feel unsafe. I'm afraid the Hutus will come and continue what they started. People think the genocide is in the past, but I still live with it.”

Eyewitness testimony

Many Tutsis formed groups and hid from the Hutus in churches and schools. The Hutus, who had gained a taste, crushed buildings filled with people with bulldozers and finished off those trying to escape with machetes. The Tutsis also sought help from the Belgian military and took refuge at their checkpoints. In such cases, groups of brutal Hutus were located around the shelter and guarded the Tutsis who were trying to get out. If there were any, they were killed right in front of the Belgians, taking advantage of the fact that the European military was forbidden to interfere in the internal affairs of Rwanda.

“I asked the soldiers to shoot me. It's better to be shot than to die from a machete. But instead, they raped and beat me, then tore off all my clothes and threw me into a common grave. My whole body was covered in the blood of the people lying in the grave. Many of them were still alive. There was a woman with her legs cut off who was still breathing.

A man passing by pulled me out of the grave. He hid me from the Hutus and raped me, giving me food and water in return. He said: “What difference does it make, you’ll die soon anyway.”

Eyewitness testimony

If radical Hutu groups encountered resistance from the population, they called military detachments to the site, and they quickly dealt with the small Tutsis.

"In search of safe place During the genocide I went through several communes. I've met many killers and lost five children along the way. Then I was with the Tutsis who organized resistance on the hill. The assassins couldn't defeat us, so they called in military reinforcements. After the military defeated us, they returned to kill the surviving men and rape the women. I was raped together with my mother. They put us side by side. First, we were raped by two soldiers in turn. Then they gave us to the others. After the rape, they released my mother and kept me with them as their “wife.”

Eyewitness testimony

It was relatively calm only in the north of the country, that is, in the territories captured by RPF troops. Simultaneously with the events of the genocide, they continued to wage a civil war with government forces.

“I am the only one left alive [of the large Tutsi group]. The head of the district gave the order to rape me. I was immediately taken away by a man whom I had never seen before, but now I know his name. He did whatever he wanted to me, beat and raped me every time he returned home after the murders. He hid all my clothes and I was completely naked there. I wanted to commit suicide in the toilet, I went outside to get to it, but instead I just ran and hid in the bushes. In the morning I was found by RPF soldiers.

Of the four ruthless killers I met during the genocide, I know three. Now they live like this among us and among many other murderers who will never be convicted.”

Eyewitness testimony

Many Tutsis were killed by their own neighbors, colleagues, acquaintances, former friends or even relatives through marriage. Tutsi women were often captured into sexual slavery and killed after years of abuse, torture and rape. Many of those who survived contracted AIDS.

“I managed to sneak out of the house [where I was held in sexual slavery], but my sister was not so lucky. She was killed. I was so distraught by this news that I myself went to the Interahamwe so that they would finish me off too.

But instead of killing me, one of them took me to an abandoned house and raped me. Then he showed me grenades and cartridges and told me to choose what kind of death I wanted to die. I grabbed a grenade and threw it on the ground, hoping it would blow me up, but it didn't. Then he called his friends to punish me. They all raped me.

They left me alone, torn, covered in blood and filth. I lay there for five days and I don't know how I survived. Then I left the house like a zombie in search of someone who could kill me. I did not know that by that time the RPF had already liberated this territory from the Hutus. Soldiers dressed in uniform were walking towards me, I shouted nasty things and insults at them, hoping that they would get angry and kill me. But instead they tried to calm me down and then took me to the hospital.

At the hospital I found out that I was HIV positive. But I don’t want to talk about it.”

Eyewitness testimony

The bodies of dead Tutsis were often dumped into rivers that flowed north so that they would "return to where they came from."

“The Kagera River flows through a deep gorge that forms a natural border between Rwanda and Tanzania. During the rainy season, the river becomes full and carries huge clods of grass and small trees from the slopes. Late spring In 1994, the same thing happened to human bodies. They were all twisted and tangled, tossed about the rapids until they fell into the calm water, which carried them to Victoria. They didn't look dead. They looked like swimmers because the strong current created the illusion that they were moving. They seemed so alive to me that I even shuddered when the waves hit them against the stones. I even imagined the pain they might feel. The border guards told me that hundreds of corpses float past them every day. Some of the dead had their hands tied behind their backs. They were shot, hacked to death, beaten, burned, drowned..."

Eyewitness testimony

Many Hutus who participated in massacres lost control and turned into real maniacs who did not care who they killed. The authorities dealt with such people themselves because they “discredited” the genocide program.

OFFENSIVE OF THE RWANDAN PATRIOTIC FRONT

Since the beginning of the genocide, who occupied northern regions country, the RPF again opposed the Hutu army. By early July he had captured most country and forced Hutus to flee abroad en masse. A little later, he organized a coalition government with representatives of Tutsi and Hutus and outlawed the party that started the genocide. The rise to power of the Rwandan Patriotic Front and its leader Paul Kagame marked the end of the genocide. Paul Kagame still rules Rwanda today.

DURATION OF GENOCIDE AND NUMBER OF KILLED

The genocide lasted approximately 100 days, from April 6 to July 18, 1994. During this time, according to various estimates, from 800,000 to 1,000,000 people were killed. Despite the fact that the population of Rwanda according to the 1991 census was 7.7 million people. Another 2,000,000 people (mostly Hutu) fled the country, fearing retribution from the RPF. Thousands of them died from epidemics that spread rapidly in the overcrowded refugee camps.

Names of the dead Tutsis

Francine, 12 years old. She loved eggs, chips, milk and Fanta. She was friends with her older sister Claudet. Hacked to death with a machete.
Bernardin, 17 years old. Loved tea and rice. I studied well at school. Killed with a machete in Nyamata Church.

Fidel, 9 years old. He loved to play football and eat chips. I played a lot with friends and watched TV. Shot in the head.
Chanel, 8 years old. She loved to run with her father, watch TV and listen to music. Favorite food is milk and chocolate. Hacked to death with a machete.

Ariana, 4 years old. She loved pies and milk. She danced and sang a lot. She died from being stabbed in the eyes and head.
David, 10 years old. He loved to play shootball and make people laugh. I dreamed of becoming a doctor. Before his death he said: “The UN will come for us.” Tortured to death.

Patrick, 5 years old. He loved to ride a bike. Favorite foods are chips, meat and eggs. He was quiet and obedient. Hacked to death with a machete.
Uwamwezi and Irene, 7 and 6 years old. We shared one doll between two people. They loved fresh fruit and spent a lot of time with their father. Blown up by a grenade.

Hubert, 2 years old. Favorite toy is a car. The last memory is of how his mother was killed. Gunned down.
Aurora, 2 years old. She loved to play hide and seek with her older brother. She was very talkative. Burnt alive in Gikondo Church.

Fabrice, 8 years old. She loved to swim and eat chocolate. She was best friends with her mother. bludgeoned to death.
Yvonne and Eve, 5 years old and 3 years old. Brother and sister. We loved tea with milk and chips. Hacked to death with a machete in grandma's house.

Thierry, 9 months. She was breastfed. I cried a lot. Her mother hacked her to death with a machete.
Philetta, 2 years old. She loved to play with dolls. Favorite food is rice and chips. Killed by hitting a wall.

ROLE OF INDIVIDUAL COUNTRIES

In April, as violence in Rwanda grew rampant, Western countries evacuated their citizens. At the same time, the UN ordered a peacekeeping group of Belgian soldiers to leave the country. They will return there only a few months after the end of the genocide.

When asked to intervene and stop the genocide, the United States responded that “the traditional US commitment to freedom of speech is not consistent with such measures.” In fact, over the past six months, US troops took part in military operations in Somalia very unsuccessfully, so the authorities refrained from new military intervention.

At the end of June, French troops arrived in Rwanda. They were located in Hutu-controlled territory and, according to many observers, supported the government that carried out the genocide. Of course, the French did not allow the Hutus to continue killing Tutsis (although there is another opinion), but at the moment when the RPF army was approaching them, they helped many high-ranking Hutus escape from retribution.

French troops establish a "security zone" between advancing RPF troops and the remnants of the Hutu army

COVERAGE OF GENOCIDE IN THE WORLD

The Rwandan genocide was actively covered in the media by Western journalists. The Hutus were not at all embarrassed by what they were doing, and easily chopped people down with machetes in front of foreign observers. Later, the Rwandan authorities, who organized the massacre, will begin to worry about the possibility of international intervention and will ask Hutu citizens to continue the killings, but not to leave the corpses on the street. After this, the dead bodies that had been decomposing in the streets for weeks began to be covered with banana leaves to prevent reporters from filming them from helicopters.

After the genocide, the governments of many countries tried to present what happened as a manifestation of “tribal violence” or “long-standing ethnic hatred.” No one wanted to admit that this was a deliberate extermination of people of a different nationality in order to maintain political strength and power.

UN BEHAVIOR

Even before the assassination of the President of Rwanda, the UN peacekeeping mission knew about the preparation of radicals for genocide. She requested permission from the UN Security Council to begin raiding them, but it forbade her to interfere in the internal affairs of the state. The ban was not lifted even after the start of mass atrocities and murders.

The UN for a long time refused to recognize what was happening as genocide, because if recognized, it would have to intervene, and it did not want that. In the United States, authorities also banned officials from using the word “genocide.” Only by mid-May did the UN admit that “an act of genocide had been committed” in Rwanda and promised to send 5,500 troops and 50 armored personnel carriers there. By this time, the Hutus had already killed 500,000 people. The promised military never made it to Rwanda because the UN was unable to agree with the United States on the cost of the armored personnel carrier. Until the end of the genocide, the UN never intervened in the situation.

After the end of the genocide, the UN sent a second mission to Rwanda, which helped restore order to the streets and remove thousands of dead bodies.

In 1999, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan publicly apologized for the “regrettable inaction” and “political lack of will” of the organization’s leadership.

EVENTS AFTER THE GENOCIDE

Of the two million Hutu who fled to neighboring countries after the RPF took power, many were soon forced to return back to Rwanda. The few surviving Tutsis watched them go in deep silence as they returned to their homes. The new government of Rwanda took a very bold step and introduced a moratorium on the arrests of genocide suspects. The then Minister of Defense and current President of Rwanda, Paul Kagame, said: “People can change. And some of them even become better people after being forgiven and given a second chance.”

“The Rwandans have lived peacefully with each other for six hundred years, and there is no reason why they cannot live in peace again. Let me address those who have chosen to follow the murderous path of confrontation: I remind you that these people are Rwandans just like you. Give up the path of genocide and destruction, join hands with other Rwandans and channel your energy into good deeds.”

Message from Rwandan President Pasteur Bizimungu, 1994

Despite calls for peace, killings continued throughout the country in the months following the genocide, with Tutsis avenging the deaths of their loved ones and Hutu getting rid of witnesses who could testify against them in court.

In 1996, the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda began its work in Arusha, Tanzania. Its goal was to identify and punish the organizers of the genocide. During his work, he examined the cases of 93 accused, of whom 61 were sentenced to different periods imprisonment. Among them are the organizers of the radical Interahamwe youth movement, the army leaders who gave orders to start the genocide, and the host of a Rwandan radio station who called on the air to kill Tutsis.

“The genocide radically changed my life. Now I am crippled and therefore I live in poverty. I can't bring myself water or plow the ground. I suffer terribly from all the trauma, grief and insomnia. I am isolated from other people. I'm offended and sad. I want to cry all the time and I hate everyone. I have nowhere to live because they destroyed my parents' house. And the most monstrous thing is that they found HIV in me. I just sit and wait for death to come for me.”

Eyewitness testimony

“Now I feel ashamed that I did not resist the rapists. I have nightmares about what happened to me and find it difficult to maintain relationships with people. But the worst thing is that I gave birth to a child from my tormentor. The genocide is still ongoing for me: I can never forget it because I am raising his child.”

Eyewitness testimony

“I don’t know why I was persecuted, but then it seemed to me that running was the only way out. Now I understand that I should have stayed and shared the fate of my family. My whole body was covered in wounds from clubs and machetes, but I always ran away from those who held them. I was raped and dishonored, but I found the courage to escape and move on with my life. You may think that I am brave and courageous. Yes, I really looked death in the face. I paid a terrible price to survive. But on the other hand, I was just lucky. I didn't see how they killed my family. I didn’t see how they practiced shooting using small children as targets. This should never happen to anyone.

I am one of that crowd of dead people, only I am not buried yet. I am a living reminder of what happened to a million other people."

Eyewitness testimony

“I know the people who killed my family: my parents, three brothers and a sister. I am ready to forgive them, because my relatives will never be returned anyway. But it will depend on how they ask for forgiveness.

I would like to live in a stable Rwanda where children are not in danger. A Rwanda that will never experience genocide again."

Eyewitness testimony

“During the reconciliation process, the killer of my family came to me to ask for forgiveness. At that time, I did not forgive him, because my heart was terribly bitter about what happened. But if he comes to me now, I will forgive him. The Lord said that if we forgive, they will forgive us. We must show the murderers that we are not like them, that we are generous. I think they themselves realized that their actions did not lead to anything good. Let's treat them humanely."

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It is impossible to imagine that all this happened just recently. We can only hope that modern civilization will draw conclusions from the terrible lessons of the recent past.

Today we will talk about the genocide in Rwanda, a small state in Eastern Europe. And even though you can often hear terrible stories about Africa (for what it’s worth), this story will impress anyone.

The Rwandan genocide, officially called the Tutsi genocide, was the massacre of Rwandan Tutsis by local Hutus from April 6 to July 18, 1994, carried out on the orders of the Hutu government.

Creepy photos of this tragic event we will provide at the end of the article.

It’s hard to believe, but according to various estimates, from 500,000 to 1,000,000 people became victims of the genocide in Rwanda! And this happened not in some dark Middle Ages, but at the very end of the 20th century. In just 100 days, the country's population decreased by 20%.

Let's try to find out the causes and consequences of this terrible tragedy that occurred between the Hutu and Tutsi peoples.

Causes of the Rwandan genocide

The Rwandan genocide was the result of a long and persistent confrontation between two ethnic groups: the Hutu and the Tutsi. The Hutu population made up approximately 85% of Rwandan citizens, while the Tutsis made up only 14%.

However, historically it so happened that it was the Tutsis who occupied leading position and were the ruling elite.

For 3 years, starting in 1990, civil war continued on the territory of this state.

In 1994, a military coup took place in the country and Hutu representatives came to power.

With the help of the army and the People's Militia, the new government, consisting of members of the Hutu, began the destruction of its long-time opponents - the Tutsis.

Moreover, those Hutu representatives who refused to kill Tutsis were also persecuted.

On the side of the Tutsis stood the Rwandan Patriotic Front, which, in turn, pursued the goal of destroying the Hutus.

On July 18, 1994, relative peace and order were established in the state. However, two million Hutu people had to flee their country for fear of retaliation.

Facts about the Rwandan genocide

The state, which sought to completely destroy the Tutsi people, resorted to the most in different ways. There was constant propaganda on the radio, the purpose of which was to incite hatred towards the Tutsi.

Thanks to this, the pogromists easily and simply found out where their potential victims were hiding. There was real anarchy and disorder in the country.

When the Hutus attacked the Tutsis, they brutally raped girls and women. Often, after rape, the victims' genitals were cut with a machete (a 50-centimeter, thin and wide knife), pierced with spears, or doused with acid.

At times, men were also subjected to sexual abuse. Some of them had their genitals cut off.

As a result of all these monstrous violence, about 20,000 children were born. Subsequently, dishonored mothers, often infected with AIDS, were considered outcasts in society.

It is worth adding the fact that during the genocide in Rwanda, many men and women were simply mutilated by cutting their mouths and inflicting various other facial mutilations. Also, many unfortunates had their limbs cut off.

Massacre at the stadium

Less than 2 weeks after the start of the bloody events, about 15,000 Tutsis were gathered at the Gatvaro stadium. It’s impossible to believe, but they were collected to make it easier to kill.

The organizers of this atrocity fired tear gas into the crowd, and then began to shoot them with weapons and throw grenades at them. Something similar happened only during the Second World War, when the Nazis destroyed people with bestial cruelty.

Religious figures involved in genocide

Sadly, the genocide in Rwanda could not have happened without the “help” of the clergy. So at the UN, at the International Tribunal, the case against the Catholic priest Atanas Seromba was considered. He was charged with being one of the participants in a conspiracy in which about 2,000 Tutsis were killed, and was sentenced to life imprisonment.

Witnesses of those events claimed that it was this priest from Rwanda who invited Tutsi refugees to his church, who were immediately attacked by the Hutus. When the helpless victims were finished, the clergyman ordered the temple building to be destroyed using a bulldozer.

Atanasa Seromba is the first Catholic priest convicted by the International Tribunal. Three more of his colleagues are being investigated.

The most senior priest accused of genocide in Rwanda was Anglican bishop Samuel Musabumana, who died in prison in 2003 before the trial began.

Photos of the Rwandan genocide