Internal Conflict SEC450 Internal Conflict Paper Name Class Date Professor Internal Conflict Paper The Rwanda Genocide began on April 6, 1994 when the Hutus began slaughtering the Tutsis. The history between the Hutus and Tutsis is long and complicated but begins with the usual class conflict. When the African country of Rwanda was settled the people that were considered to be the upper class owned cattle and were known as the Tutsis while anyone who did not own cattle was considered a Hutus. While anyone could become a Tutsis if they married or if they purchased cattle as time went on and Europeans began to settle in the area the meaning of Tutsis and Hutus changed. In the 1800’s the term Tutsi and Hutus became to take on a racial connotation with Tutsi acting superior to the Hutus even though they only made up a small percentage of the population. In 1894 when the Germans came to Rwanda the Tutsi were put in charge of the country and later when Belgium’s took over the area citizens were require to have identification that stated whether or not they were Tutsi, Twa or Hutu. The Twa are a small tribal group that lived in the area. Even though the Hutus makeup ninety percent of the population of Rwanda, the Tutsi were the ones placed in positions of government leadership while the Hutus were forbidden from holding any leadership position in the country. The decision to put the Tutsi in charge create a large rebellion in the country causing the Belgium’s to change their decision an instead place the Hutus in charge of the country. The result was years of resentment and conflict between the two different groups of Africans. The genocide began when on April 6, 1994 President Juvénal Habyarimana plane was shot out of the sky by a missile. President Juvénal Habyarimana refused to allow any Tutsi to hold positions in the government but this changed when in 1993 the President decided to allow Tutsi to participate in the government. This angered the Hutus and a Hutus extremist group and many believe they are responsible for firing off the missile. Despite the fact that the Tutsi did not have access to missiles and would not benefit from the Presidents death they were blamed for shooting down the plane and killing everyone on board. When the President died the Hutus extremists took over the government and ordered the slaughter of all Tutsi. This began a hundred days of slaughter. In the hundred day of slaughter Hutus that make a 90% of the entire population began to slaughter Tutsi with machetes hand out by the new regime (Mitchell, 2007). Hutus went from house to house dragging out Tutsi citizens and murdering them. Over the next few months the violence spread throughout the country and the Tutsis that did not flee the country were dragged into the street and murdered by Hutus mobs. The mobs would immediately kill the Tutsi men but in many cases they would rape and torture the women before they.

1. Internal Conflict
SEC450 Internal Conflict Paper
Name
Class
Date
Professor
Internal Conflict Paper
The Rwanda Genocide began on April 6, 1994 when the
Hutus began slaughtering the Tutsis. The history between the
Hutus and Tutsis is long and complicated but begins with the
usual class conflict. When the African country of Rwanda was
settled the people that were considered to be the upper class
owned cattle and were known as the Tutsis while anyone who

2. did not own cattle was considered a Hutus. While anyone could
become a Tutsis if they married or if they purchased cattle as
time went on and Europeans began to settle in the area the
meaning of Tutsis and Hutus changed.
In the 1800’s the term Tutsi and Hutus became to take on a
racial connotation with Tutsi acting superior to the Hutus even
though they only made up a small percentage of the population.
In 1894 when the Germans came to Rwanda the Tutsi were put
in charge of the country and later when Belgium’s took over the
area citizens were require to have identification that stated
whether or not they were Tutsi, Twa or Hutu. The Twa are a
small tribal group that lived in the area. Even though the Hutus
makeup ninety percent of the population of Rwanda, the Tutsi
were the ones placed in positions of government leadership
while the Hutus were forbidden from holding any leadership
position in the country.
The decision to put the Tutsi in charge create a large
rebellion in the country causing the Belgium’s to change their
decision an instead place the Hutus in charge of the country.
The result was years of resentment and conflict between the two
different groups of Africans. The genocide began when on April
6, 1994 President Juvénal Habyarimana plane was shot out of
the sky by a missile. President Juvénal Habyarimana refused to
allow any Tutsi to hold positions in the government but this
changed when in 1993 the President decided to allow Tutsi to
participate in the government. This angered the Hutus and a
Hutus extremist group and many believe they are responsible
for firing off the missile.
Despite the fact that the Tutsi did not have access to
missiles and would not benefit from the Presidents death they
were blamed for shooting down the plane and killing everyone
on board. When the President died the Hutus extremists took
over the government and ordered the slaughter of all Tutsi. This
began a hundred days of slaughter. In the hundred day of
slaughter Hutus that make a 90% of the entire population began
to slaughter Tutsi with machetes hand out by the new regime

3. (Mitchell, 2007). Hutus went from house to house dragging out
Tutsi citizens and murdering them.
Over the next few months the violence spread throughout the
country and the Tutsis that did not flee the country were
dragged into the street and murdered by Hutus mobs. The mobs
would immediately kill the Tutsi men but in many cases they
would rape and torture the women before they were beheaded.
These women were beaten, raped with foreign objects, and many
had their breasts cut off before death. Some women were
kidnapped and forced to become the sex slaves of the Hutus
extremists. It would be weeks after their kidnapping that they
would finally be slaughtered.
Centuries of anger and frustration and racial tension led to
one of the most horrific events in the Earth’s history. Tutsi were
so desperate to escape the slaughter and would hide in churches,
government buildings, schools, and hospitals. In the past these
place have always been considered places of refuge for the
Tutsi but in this event they became slaughter houses for the
Hutus people. The Tutsi would be boarded up in the church or
school and the place would be set on fire. Thousand of Tutsi
people would be burned alive at one time. These types if mass
murders were common in the Rwanda genocide.
Nyarubuye Roman Catholic Church was the site of the most
devastating massacre of the genocide. The church was located
about 60 miles east of the village of Kigali and the Mayor of the
city, a Hutus man, encouraged all of the Tutsi people in the
village to hide in the towns Catholic church. When Hutus
extremists entered the town the mayor turned on the Tutsi
people and each and every one of the Tutsi people were
slaughtered. The Hutus extremist locked the people in the
church and threw in grenades and bombs into the church. Tutsi
that escaped the blaze were shot down by soldiers. This was not
the only event like this in the Rwanda genocide but it resulted
in the largest loss of life.
When the genocide was ended by the Rwandan Patriotic
Front (RPF) there were tens of thousands of corpses lying

4. around the country because Hutus extremists would not allow
the Tutsi’s to be buried. Instead of stepping in and providing
aid to the Tutsi people the world turned their backs and UN
Peacekeepers present in the country were helpless to stop the
killings. They were under strict orders not to interfere. In many
cases UN Peacekeepers watched as Tutsis were slaughtered in
the streets and tortured. UN Peacekeepers are placed in a
country to keep the peace but are not allowed to involve
themselves in the politics of the country. The UN failed when
they did not order the UN Peacekeepers to take action.
The world has seen on many occasions horrendous acts
committed against humans by other human beings. Events like
the Holocaust should have made world leaders more sensitive to
the need to save citizens being subjected to extreme torture and
death. In the case of the Hutus and the Tutsi it began as a class
conflict that tuned into a racial and ethnic divide. The Hutus
and Tutsi are separated by race but they are in fact the exact
same race (UHRC, 2011). When the Hutus and Tutsi were
separated they were form the same race the only difference was
the Tutsi (upper class citizens) owned cattle while the Hutus
(lower class citizens) did not own cattle. It did not become a
racial distinction until the Belgium’s decided Tutsi were
superior and classified the groups by race.
With the European influence came a change in Rwanda and
the people. The Hutus and Tutsi had always lived side by side
without any conflict until they were divided by the Belgium
government. Before Europeans settle the area Tutsi and Hutus
could be married but after the Belgium’s settled the area these
types of marriages were forbidden. When race believes they are
superior to another race the result will be frustration and anger.
This anger can create hostilities that explode into conflict. UN
Peacekeepers were sent into the area before the genocide in
order to keep peace in the area but this would not be the case.
They failed to keep peace and the second largest genocide in the
world’s history occurred.
The UN Peacekeepers role is to help countries torn by

5. conflict create conditions for lasting peace (UN, 2013). UN
Peacekeepers were sent to Rwanda in order to support new
governments in making transitions in the country which
included placing Tutsi people in government positions despite
protests for the Hutus people. With a large Hutus presence in
the country things could quickly get volatile and Tutsi people
could come to harm. UN Peacekeepers were placed there to
guide the new governmental process and back up the decisions
of the government.
When the Rwanda Genocide occurred UN Peacekeepers
were ordered by the United Nations not to intercede.
Peacekeepers were only allowed to act if there were threatened
and despite the fact that many Hutus did not have guns and were
only armed with machetes while UN Peacekeepers are armed
with M-4 Rifles. In the end the conflict was not ended because
another country reached out and extend the victims a hand but
because the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) was able to take
back control of the country from the Hutus extremists.
By July of 1994 the RPF retained control of the country and
more UN Peacekeepers were sent to assist the RPF in their
efforts to bury the dead, restore the country, and punish the
offenders. The Rwandan Genocide resulted in the murder of
over 800,000 Tutsi people resulting in three fourths of the
population being slaughtered (Lacey, 2008). Even though
around 200,000 Tutsi survived the slaughter there are fewer
than ten thousand Tutsi people left in the country. Many have
fled and will never return.

6. References
Lacey, M. (2008). Rwanda Genocide. Retrieved April 15, 2013
from
http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/international/countriesandte
rritories/rwanda/genocide/
Mitchell, W. (2007). The Aftermath of the Rwandan Genocide.
Retrieved April 15, 2013 from
http://worldwithoutgenocide.org/genocides-and-
conflicts/rwandan-genocide
United Nations. (2013). What is peacekeeping? Retrieved April
15, 2013 from
http://www.un.org/en/peacekeeping/operations/peacekeeping.sht
ml
United Human Rights Council. (2011). Genocide in Rwanda.
Retrieved April 15, 2013 from
http://www.unitedhumanrights.org/genocide/genocide_in_rwand
a.htm