Ethnic Conflict Paper Psy450

Ethnic Group Conflict Paper: Rwanda: Hutus and Tutsis

PSY/450

1/27/2014

Introduction

Between April of 1994 and June of 1994 there were an estimated 800,000 Rwandans killed in a period of about 100 days (Johnson, 2012).. Of those Rwandans that were dead, Tutsis while the Hutus were the majority of who committed the violence. Looking back centuries ago, Tutsis were tall warriors who moved from Ethiopia and took over the homeland of which the Hutus resided. The Tutsis were outnumbered but ended up dominating the Hutus, came to an agreement with the Tutsis to raise their crops in exchange for protection. During the Colonial era, when Belgium ruled the area after taking it from Germany in 1916, the Hutus and the Tutsis were able to live as one. They both speak the Bantu tongues and French and usually practice Christianity. The Tutsis had a monarchy dating back to the 15th century; this was overthrown at the urging of Belgian colonizers in the early 1960s and the Hutu took power by force in Rwanda("Rwanda: How The Genocide Happened", 2011). In Burundi, however, a Hutu uprising failed and the Tutsis controlled the country("Rwanda: How The Genocide Happened", 2011). The genocide came about due to the death of the Rwandan President Juvenal Habyarimana who was a Hutu. President Habyarimana’s plane was shot down above Kigali Airport on April 6, 1994 (Johnson, 2012). Many believe that his death was due to the work of Hutu extremist that carried out their well laid plans to exterminate the Tutsi community. Immediately following the death of the president, an operation of violence spread throughout the country and didn’t diminish for three months. Although the President died it was by no means any a reason to cause Africa’s largest massacre during modern times. Tensions in Rwanda due to ethnicity are nothing new. Disagreements are nothing new between most Hutus and Tutsis, but the amount of animosity has grown a substantial amount since the colonial period.

* Discuss the...