Rwan cause
One long term cause of the Rwanda Genocide was colonialism and the colonisation of Rwanda in 1916 by Belgium. Prior to Rwanda’s colonisation, the social hierarchy was largely socio-economic where the Tutsi ruled in terms of wealth and authority. This social hierarchy began in the early 1300s when the ethnic group, Tutsi, migrated to Rwanda bringing along herds of cattle known as the ‘hump-less’ cow, along with their prior history of conquering lands. The Hutu who were the majority ethnic tribe had resided in Rwanda prior to the Tutsi and differed in culture where they specialised more on agriculture. Cattle were much more valuable in terms of resources compared to agricultural products, therefore the Tutsi were considered to be wealthier and at the top of the socio-economic structure known as Ubuhake. This feudal type system allowed Hutu to use Tutsi’s cattle and land in exchange for their service and agricultural product which in many cases led to being bound to a Hutu of higher power. It’s also important to note that in this socio-economic hierarchy Hutu also had the opportunity to rise in authority if they were able to own cattle or land while some Tutsi could become poor peasants therefore the hierarchy was not based on ethnicity and instead socio-economic. The symbiotic relationship the Hutu and Tutsi had as they depended on each other for resources and services, along with the fact there was always an opportunity for anyone to rise in rank in the social hierarchy meant both tribes were mostly content with this system and likely how they were able to coexist for a long period of time. During the 1880s many European nations began to colonise regions of Africa as it was rich in raw resources such as palm oil and rubber which would economically support the rise of the industrial revolution and the growing middle class. To prevent the inevitability of countries from fighting against each other for colonies, in 1885 at the Conference of Berlin, Africa was divided into different parts and given to twelve countries who were present at the time under the Act of Berlin. Rwanda was pronounced Germany’s territory, however there were not many changes made to the political structure and instead the Germans mainly indirectly ruled through the Mwami (tribe chiefs). It wasn’t until 1916, when Belgium occupied Rwanda during World War I and officially received it as a colony under the Treaty of Versailles in 1919 after Germany’s defeat where the social hierarchy began to drastically change under the newly implemented politics. Belgium removed the Ubuhake system and instead chose an ethnic group to be the ruling class as it was much more cost effective than developing a new government. This policy was openly racist as the ruling class was largely decided on whose tribe had physical features closest to Europeans. Tutsi were considered to be superior due to their longer and slender figures and described as “tall trees” whereas Hutu were shorter and broader. As the ruling class, Tutsi were given significantly better treatment such as being provided education and roles in the government while Hutu were mainly doing hard labour in mines and plantations which strengthened the growing hatred Hutu had against Tutsi. The sense of ethnic divide would become more enforced after the introduction of ID cards in 1933 which stated their ethnicity and made it easier for Hutu to be subjected to the hierarchy and oftentimes be exploited for their labour under Tutsi leaderships. Compared to pre-colonisation of Rwanda by Belgium, Hutu were now no longer able to rise in the hierarchy and were forced to live as a lower class citizen underneath Tutsi, creating a society where it became more difficult for the two ethnic tribes to coexist. The colonisation of Rwanda by Belgium was a significant long term cause as it shifted the social hierarchy from socio-economic to racial, creating racial bias towards Tutsi which strengthened negative ethnic tensions which would be the fuel to the Rwandan Genocide where Hutu would target Tutsi out of the anger accumulated over a long period of time. Without the colonial period, it is possible that Hutu and Tutsi would be able to continue coexisting peacefully under the Ubuhake system, preventing the Rwandan Genocide.
Short Term (End of civil war, shooting of plane, RPF invasion):
Hutu uprising. 1959 Hutu overthrew the Tutsi monarchy, leading over 300,000 Tutsi to flee Rwanda to nearby countries like Uganda.
In 1987, the RPF (Rwandan Patriotic Front) was founded by Tutsi refugees and moderate Hutus in Rwanda and led by Paul Kagame. Goal was to overthrow the Hutu president at the time, Juvenal Habyarimana, in order to return to their homeland.
RPF invaded Rwanda in 1990.
Throughout 1990-1994, armed Hutu militia attacked Tutsi throughout the country. Quickly led to civil war
August 1994 after several attacks, a peace accord between Paul Kagame and Juvenal Habyarimana was made after months of negotiation. Did not impact the turmoil which was still going on.
After this, came the trigger cause to the genocide.
6 April 1994, a French plane carrying President Habyrimana and Burundi president Cyprien Ntaryamira, both Hutus, was shot down and led to their deaths.
The two presidents were returning from a heads of state summit from Tanzania where Habyarimana had made a commitment to integrate fighters of the Rwandan Patriotic Front into the armed forces and to hold elections for a new all-inclusive national government. This commitment would fulfil the final requirements of a peace agreement arrived at in talks that started in 1992.
Hutu extremists blamed the RPF for the incident and began to start a well organised campaign of slaughter.
The RPF claimed the plane had been shot down by Hutus to provide an excuse for the genocide, also potentially to stop the peace agreement as it meant the removal of the Hutu monarchy.
Within an hour of the plane crash (very organised, kinda sus), the Presidential Guard, elements of the Rwandan armed forces (FAR) and extremist militia (Interahamwe and Impuzamugambi) set up roadblocks and barricades and began the organised slaughter, starting in the capital Kigali.
Their first targets were those most likely to resist the plan of genocide: the opposition Prime Minister, the president of the constitutional court, priests, leaders of the Liberal Party and Social Democratic Party, the Information Minister, and tellingly, the negotiator of the Arusha Accord.
As a US intelligence analyst noted in late April:“The plan appears to have been to wipe out any RPF ally or potential ally, and thus raise the costs and limit the possibility of an RPF/Tutsi takeover… No end to the unprecedented bloodshed is yet in sight.
One short term cause of the Rwandan Genocide was the Rwandan Civil War between the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) and the Rwandan Armed Forces. In 1959, the Rwandan monarchy which was previously ruled by Tutsi was overthrown by Hutu during an uprising against the long-running mistreatment of Hutu which led over 300,000 Tutsi to flee the country to neighbouring countries like Uganda. This would lead to the formation of the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) which was founded by Paul Kagame in Uganda and was made up of majority Tutsi and some Hutu moderates. Their goal at the time was to overthrow the Hutu president of Rwanda, Juvenal Habyarimana, in order to gain back the rights to return to their homeland. To achieve this they would begin an invasion into Rwanda in 1990 which would begin the civil war against the Rwandan military, the Rwandan Armed Forces, which would last throughout 1990-1994. During this conflict a series of violence between both groups would occur including multiple guerilla attacks by the RPF while Hutu power would begin to make targeted attacks against Tutsi. However amidst all of this, peace agreements were in the talks between Paul Kagame and Juvenal Habyarimana, leading to the formation of the Arusha Accords in 1993. As a part of the peace agreement in 1994, Habyarimana would announce at a head of states meeting in Tanzania of his commitment to integrate RPF fighters into the Rwandan Armed Forces and begin to create an inclusive national government which would start of breaking down the ethnic barriers between Hutu and Tutsi through allowing anyone the chance to gain high ranking roles. However on 6 April during his flight back to Rwanda from this meeting, his plane would be shot down by an unknown attacker leading to his death. Habyarimana’s assassination would become the trigger cause to the Rwanda Genocide as within an hour of this incident a series of organised attacks against Tutsi and Hutu moderates by Hutu extremists involving the Rwandan Armed Forces, the Presidential Guard and Hutu militia known as the Interahamwe would begin. Hutu extremists would claim RPF leaders were the culprit of Habyarimana’s death as he was the Hutu president at the time and was the initial opposition against the RPF’s goals. However, considering how peace agreements were already happening it would be unusual for the RPF to decide to murder Habyarimana when their goal of making Rwanda inclusive of both Hutu and Tutsi was already in the talks. On the other hand, the RPF claimed Hutu extremists were using Habyarimana’s death as an excuse to begin the genocide on Tutsi and moderate Hutu. The first targets of the Hutu extremists were people who were likely to stop the genocide including the opposition Prime Minister, the Information Minister, and the negotiator of the Arusha Accord. This initial target of non-RPF members could indicate that the main goal of the Hutu extremists was to prevent the further rise of Tutsi power in Rwanda rather than to punish those who they believed were responsible for Hayarimana’s death. The Rwandan Civil War was a significant cause to the Rwandan Genocide as it began the unification between Tutsi and Hutu in Rwanda which was a change unwelcomed by Hutu extremists and fuelled their motive to remain in power and bring down Tutsi through the genocide. If it the civil war had not occurred, the confrontation between Tutsi and Hutu would have been avoided and tensions between both ethnic tribes would not have rose to the point of a genocide.
Attacks seemed to “limit the possibility of an RPF/Tutsi takeover” - US Department of State, Bureau of