AUHRM Project Focus Area: Rwandan Genocide

The Rwandan Genocide which was initiated in the capital of Rwanda, Kigali by extreme Hutu nationalists who incited Hutu citizens to take up arms against the Tutsis in 1994 from April to July ended with the killing of up to 800,000 Tutsi minorities by members of the Hutu ethnic Majority.

Following independence, the system could not be maintained and after the colonial powers switched support to the Hutus, they in turn encouraged retaliation against the Tutsis, resulting in thousands of people being killed. After the coup d’état by Juvenal Habyariman against President Kayibanda who favoured Hutus the most, Rwanda returned to stability and development was widespread. However President Habyariman increasingly became authoritarian and corrupt.
In 1990, violence erupted and led to war, resulting in many deaths. However, a peace agreement was signed in Arusha, Tanzania which proposed democracy, peace and power sharing. This was struck a blow following the death of President Habyariman when his plane was shot down. The Rwandan genocide is the worst form of war ever experienced on the continent, in which almost 1 million people were killed in a short space of time.

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