Claire Owen
Professor Tonoyan
December 12, 2007
Ethno Political Conflicts
Professor Tonoyan
December 12, 2007
Ethno Political Conflicts
Hutu and Tutsi Ethnic Conflict
Rwanda, a small Central African county with just seven million people has experienced extreme ethnic conflict throughout its history. The country is made up primarily of two ethnic groups, the Hutu and the Tutsi. The Hutus make up about ninety percent of the countries population, but the Tutsi minority has had power over the Hutu for decades. The Tutsi were considered aristocrats and were dominant over the Hutu peasants, this became even more so the case during the Belgian colonial rule(United Human Rights Council). The Belgians used the Tutsi minority to rule indirectly in Rwanda and Burundi during their colonization. The Belgians aided in the ethnic conflict between the Hutu and Tutsi by “creating a racial distinction making the Tutsi superior Africans, due to the alleged “Hamitic” origin, while the Hutus were relegated to the bottom of the racial scale”(Kertzer 11). While there were insignificant differences between the two tribes prior to the colonization, the policy of indirect rule greatly added to the racist ideology and conflict between the tribes(Kertzer 11). “The constitutional procedures established by the Belgian government with continuous United Nation intervention had served as catalyst from this escalating conflict in the plural society of Rwanda, terror and ultimately genocidal massacre becoming the instruments of political change”( Hutchinson 267).
In 1962 Rwanda gained Independence from Belgium and the Hutu majority took the governing power from the Tutsis, oppressing them “through systematic discrimination and acts of violence”(United Human Rights Council). 200,000 Tutsis fled the country and formed the RPF(Rwandan Patriotic Front), a rebel guerrilla army, that would later rise up against the Hutu’s(United Human Rights Council). During the 1960’s and in 1973 the Hutu Revolution took place, in which time the Hutu dominated the military and government. During the presidency of Gregoire Kayibanda, from 1962 to 1973, a series of anti-Tutsi massacres took place(Straus 23). Even years after independence ethic division and violence continued. “Political parties consolidated on mainly ethnic lines, and terrorism, initiated by the Tutsi, and the violent reactions, of Hutu, rapidly polarized the society, and escalated electoral contest to violent confrontation”(Hutchinson 266). In 1972 a major genocide was carried out by the Tutsi minority in Burundi against the Hutus(Hutchinson 266). Through out the years genocides carried out by both tribes continued to take place.
During the 1980’s the Tutsi refugees became well organized and in 1990 the RPF invaded Rwanda with the intention of bringing the Tutsi ethnic group back into power. In 1993 the RPF and the Rwandan government attempted to sign the Arusha Accords, to end the civil war however they could not agree on the terms of the accord and the situation did not improve. “Beginning on April 6, 1994, and for the next hundred days, up to 800,000 Tutsis were killed by Hutu militia using clubs and machetes, with as many as 10,000 killed each day”(United Human Rights Council). In July of 1994 the killings finally ended when Tutsi rebels invaded from neighboring countries defeating the Hutus. By this time, “over one-tenth of the population, an estimated 800,000 persons, had been killed”(United Human Rights Council).
There are different opinions and speculations as to what led to this horrendous ethnic conflict and mass genocide. “Regional differences, and differences in wealth, power and status among Tutsi, and among Hutu, added to the structural complexity of the society”( Hutchinson 267) have been named as important factors in the conflict. Decolonization, while it did not originally deal with ethnicity also became a large factor. “But very rapidly the society became ethnically polarized, and Tutsi elite sought to eliminate their Hutu opponents by terrorism and assassination, and Hutu responded by counter terrorism”(Hutchinson 267).
While differences between the tribes were apparent, they were also very similar. Straus, did extensive research and personal interviews with survivors of the genocide. “Almost every single perpetrator I interviewed had a Tutsi neighbor before the genocide. Even more remarkable, nearly seventy percent of the respondents had a Tutsi family member before the genocide”(Straus 129). Many people would wonder how family members and friends could kill each other. Straus concluded that racial ideology and racist propaganda dehumanized the tribes and led to ethnic hatred(129). It seems that the influence of other people, primarily political leaders acted as a catalyst to prejudice and ethnic conflict. Also, “civil war and violence in Burundi created anxiety and fear in Rwanda”(Straus 123-124). Changes in ideology are not the only source of Rwandan’s killing each other. Some Hutu’s felt threatened by their tribal members if they chose not to participate. The consequences of not participating “included physical harm and death but also property damage and financial penalty”(Straus 135-136).
The ethnic conflict between the Hutu’s and Tutsi’s is an example of how people are so easily influenced by the ideas of others. The ideas and government set up by the Belgians influenced the Tutsi’s. The ideas of President Gregoire Kayibanda influenced the Hutu’s. Hatred between the two ethnic groups, who in actuality were very similar, led to the deaths of 800,000 people.
Works Cited
Hutchinson, John. Ethnicity. New York: Oxford University Press. 1996.
Kertzer, David. Census and Identity The Politics of Race, Ethnicity, and Language in National Censuses. United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press, 2002.
Straus, Scott. The Order of Genocide, Race, Power and War in Rwanda. Ithica: Cornell University Press, 2006.
United Human Rights Council. Genocide in Rwanda. United Human Rights Council. 2006. 10 Jan 2007
