Tuesday, July 6, 2010

The Rwandan Genocide of 1994

I read the stories of various survivors, the torturous time they underwent , it was truly Hell let loose in Rwanda.The memories of these horrifying crimes can never ever be etched away from the minds of Rwandans.In 1994, around 80000 Rwandan were killed, by the Hutu majority(Interahamwe ).Those killed belonged to the Tutsi minority. This was done as an organized mass scale slaughter , within the timeframe of 100 days.
The exterminations were planned very carefully , with the armed militia present in every neighborhood, armed with grenades and AK-47.It is said to have started on April 6, 1994, with the killing of Rwandan President Habyarimana.
The Hutu militia then based on ID’s revealing ethnic identity, went from one area to another killing the Tutus. The first day ended with thousands of Tutus being murdered.
UN could nothing, nor the other countries.Though they rescued their own civilians not much was done to stop the killings. Even within the safe areas, the killings continued, until by mid july, when the Tutsi RPF forces captured Kigali. The Hutu government had to flee to Zaire. International Federation of Human Rights Leagues and the U.S.-based Human Rights Watch released a 900 paged report titled, "Leave None to Tell the Story.",documenting the events of the genocide , which also criticizes the U.N., the U.S., France and Belgium for not taking action to prevent the killings. The secretary general of UN and US president Bill Clinton apologized to the people of Rwanda.

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