Background to Hotel Rwanda

Hotel Rwanda

BACKGROUND TO THE STORY
There are two major ethnic groups in Rwanda, the Hutu and the Tutsi. Tension between
these has been a feature of Rwandan life for generations even though they speak the same
language, follow the same traditions and live in the same areas. When the country was
colonised by the Belgians in 1916 they claimed that the Tutsi were superior to the Hutu
based on the idea that their skins were lighter and their features more European. The
Belgians made the Tutsi the ruling class, giving them better jobs, housing and educational
opportunities and charging them with keeping the Hutu ‘in their place’.

Not surprisingly, resentment amongst the Hutu built up and in 1959 20,000 Tutsi were killed
in a series of riots. Many fled to neighbouring Uganda where the children of these refugees
formed the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF). Their aim was to overthrow the President of
Rwanda, Juvenal Habyarimana and return to their homeland. A peace settlement between
the President and the RPF was supposed to bring a halt to the unrest but it was ineffective.
In April 1994 the President’s plane was shot down, sparking a campaign of violence in
which over 800,000 Rwandans were killed in the space of 100 days. Although it is still
unclear to this day who was responsible for his assassination, the presidential guard
retaliated by murdering members of the political opposition and the Hutu seized their
opportunity to redress years of repression. Tutsi people were slaughtered by the thousand,
hunted out of their homes, killed with guns or machetes and left to die on the road. An
unofficial militia group called the Interahamwe (‘those who attack together’) were responsible
for much of the violence but soldiers and police officers were also to blame. Hutu civilians
were forced to murder their neighbours and children were not spared in an insane effort to
wipe out the next Tutsi generation.

Although news reports of the slaughter reached the West via the TV crews covering the
unstable political situation before the outbreak, little was done to help the Tutsi. Whilst
foreign governments evacuated their nationals they did not send military help to Rwanda,
and the United Nations peace-keeping force stationed there at the time of the outbreak
were ordered to remain neutral. The UN withdrew their forces after ten soldiers were killed.
In July the Tutsi-led rebel RPF captured Kigali, the Rwandan capital and the government
collapsed. Over two million Hutu fled to the Democratic Republic of Congo and UN troops
arrived with aid workers to help restore order and provide basic services. Many of those
responsible for the massacre have still not been brought to justice.

In your blogs, complete the following assignment -

Blog Title: Background to Hotel Rwanda
Assignment:
1) What are the two major groups in Rwanda?
2) What group is considered "superior?" Why?
3) How was this group treated better?
4) How long did the genocide last? How many people were killed during this time?
5) Define genocide.