Unforgettable 1994 in the History of Rwandese.

By Jocktan Lemi.

It is the year which can not be forgettable in many ears of Rwandese people and its history of her country from the present generation up the coming generation as well as the history of Africa or even the world in some extent. This was due to the mass killing of people which known as Kimbali genocide.

 It was the assassination of president Juvénal Habyarimana in April 1994 set off a violent reaction, resulting into the Hutus' conducting mass killings of Tutsis and pro-peace Hutus. It was planned by different people and some of the institutions like the members of the Hutu power group known as the Akazu, many of whom occupied positions at top levels of the national government.

Also alongside the military, primary responsibility for the killings themselves rests with two Hutu militias that had been organized for this purpose by political parties: the Interahamwe and the Impuzamugambi, although once the genocide was underway a great number of Hutu civilians took part in the murders

During that terrible situation at least 800,000 people were killed, “Human Rights Watch”. On the other hand it estimated that the death toll ranged from 500,000 up to 1,000,000 which reach at least 20% of total population.

The situation was caused by the result of Belgium colonization where by Tutsi where favored as the minority, simply because were seemed to be as the more European in appearance. Hence this put a tension between the minority Tutsi who had controlled power of the country and majority Hutu who had come to power through rebellion since 1959-1962 where they overthrown the Tutsi monarchy.

At the year of 1990, the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), a rebel group composed mostly of Tutsi refugees, invaded northern Rwanda from Uganda and attempt to defeat the Hutu- government. It was by introducing the Rwandan Civil War; this was fought between the Hutu regime, with the supported from Francophone nations of Africa and France, and the RPF, with supported from Uganda.

It was an ideology from the Hutu which says that, Tutsi was planned to enslave the Hutu and must be resisted at all costs. By continuing ethnic conflict which resulted in the rebels' displacing large numbers of Hutu in the north, plus periodic localized Hutu killings of Tutsi in the southern part. Domestic pressure on the Hutu-led government of Habyarimana resulted in a negotiating period in 1993. He was able to begin implementation of the Arusha agreement. It was at the end of the peace agreement to end the war. In the responses to the killings, the Tutsi RPF restarted their offensive, eventually defeating the government army and seizing control of the country.

The background shows that for many centuries, the Tutsi monarchy had controlled most of the power in Rwanda. The monarchy continued even under colonial rule. These practices in the past were part of the culture of Rwanda; for instance, King Rwabugiri (1867–1897) instituted a certain system known as the hated corvée labor, which drew up mostly the majority Hutu. In addition, he imported the use of violence as a standard practice against domestic and external force. But   during the late of 1950s, the Hutu majority became more restless. In 1957, the Hutu Movement (Parmehutu) (French: Parti du Mouvement de l'Emancipation Hutu); English: "Party of the Hutu Emancipation Movement, published by the "Hutu Manifesto" (sometimes called "Bahutu Manifesto"). It assumed that the Tutsi minority held a monopoly of power in Rwanda.

By the end of 1962, the Hutu overthrew the monarchy and established the Republic headed by Grégoire Kayibanda. His regime victimized the Tutsi in circle; especially those previously were in power, and many of the most educated fled the country for refuge in Uganda and other areas.

Also General Juvénal Habyarimana, also ethnic Hutu, held power in a coup in 1973, by killing Kayibanda and promising progress.Also in neighboring country like Burundi two episodes of mass violence had taken place since the country’s independence in 1962: the army's mass killings of Hutu in 1972, which was considered a Tutsi-initiated genocide because the ethnic group had controlled the government army. Hence in 1994, the Hutu population arose and killed many Tutsi in Burundi.

So all in all we can sew how the Preparations for the genocide in Rwanda was basically planned by the different groups as well as institutions;  firstly it was organized by the government, when it  started the Rwandan militia member for every family to engaged in militia which was known  nationwide. This militia was comprises the members of the Interahamwe and Impuzamugambi where by some of them were trained to use only the machetes. Even though  after the 1993 peace agreement signed in Arusha,the  business were closed  to General Habyarimana who  imported 581,000 machetes for Hutu use in killing Tutsi, simply  because at that time,  the machetes were cheaper than guns. Hence he tried to use those simple instruments,

On the other hand there was the Media propaganda, it was seemed that the news media played a crucial role in the genocide, this was in deferent ways, local print and radio media was announced the killings while the international media either ignored or seriously miss consulted the events on the ground. So the local print media in Rwanda was believed to start the hate speech against Tutsis, which was later continued by radio stations. Hence anti-Tutsi hate speech "...became as universal as to be seemed as the norm." The state-owned a certain newspaper known as ‘Kangura’ which had a central roles, by starting an anti-Tutsi and anti-RPF campaign in October 1990.

Also there was the involvement of religions like Roman Catholic, the Roman Catholic Church affirms that genocide was took place, but they argues that those who took part in was  did  without the permission of the Church. Although the religious factors were not famous (the event was ethnically motivated), if we look to the Human Rights Watch reported that a number of religious authorities in Rwanda, including Roman Catholic, Anglican, and other Protestants failed to blame the genocide directly for some time.

 In real situation, some the religious leaders have been brought to trial for their participation in genocide by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda at Arusha –Tanzania (ICC) and convicted their trial .For example the Bishop Misago was accused for corruption and complicity in the genocide, but he was cleared of all charges in 2000.But others Catholic and Protestant leaders, however, gave their lives to protect Tutsis from slaughter. The majority of Rwandans, and Tutsis in particular, are Catholic, so shared religion did not prevent genocide to occur during that times.

Frankly I can say that the mass Media like News papers, radio TVs and so on can contribute the conflicts in the society as well as in the nationwide, only if they could not determine their roles to the public. Religions also must be the front line to make sure that people were lived by followed the Ten Commandments from the God and not otherwise. They must preach charity among the people as well as among the nations as well as the world in general.