Preview

Rwandan Civil War

Powerful Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1239 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Rwandan Civil War
English Argumentative/Persuasive Essay
Rwandan Civil War

On July 16, 1994, the world watched the Rwandan Civil War finally end, 800, 000 lives later and after devastating a nation socially, economically and politically. It seemed as if the whole world watched, yet did nothing. Many Rwandans lives are very thankful to the UN's efforts but it wasn't nearly enough. Canada, among many other countries, should have been involved in the Rwandan Civil war. Canada should have especially for it has an obligation to sustain there status as a peacekeeping nation. Canada has the proud history of inventing the idea of peacekeeping with the Canadian Lester B. Pearson. More importantly, Canada could have and should have been involved in the Rwandan Civil war, to save many innocent men, children and women from death from the numerous rusty machetes.
Rwanda, a small, densely populated and landlocked country, is located in the heart of Africa. It has two main ethnic populations, the Tutsis and the Hutus. The Hutus represent 80% of the Rwandan population. Rwanda was once a Belgium colony. When Belgium withdrew from Rwanda, the Tutsis quickly took control of the businesses and the government. Although being a minority, the Tutsis were socially, economically and politically dominant.
Tensions grew rapidly between the ethnic groups, which led to the exiles, in 1959 to 1961, of many Tutsis. With the departure of the many Tutsis, the nation started to deteriorate. It quickly became poor and plagued with drought and famine. 30 years later, the Tutsis were still angry with there exiles. They wanted their country back in their control. In 1990, the exiled Tutsis created the Rwandan Patriotic Front. Unable to feed its population, let alone fight a civil war, the Hutu government agreed to give most power back to the Tutsis in 1993 with the Arusha Accord. Before the Accord could be implemented, Hutu president, Juvénal Habyarimana, broke the peace accord. Rwanda here first got a tiny

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    In Rwanda, ethnic tensions were already high with the power struggle between the Hutus and the Tutsis. Since its independence from Belgium, the Hutus suppressed the Tutsis increasingly until the Tutsi rebel army forced the President to sign an agreement that equalized power. On April 6, 1994, a plane carrying the Rwandan President was shot down and resulted in an outbreak of violence by the Hutus, who began killing all Tutsis and moderate Hutus (United Human Rights).…

    • 787 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the years of April and June of 1994, the Rwanda genocide occurred. The history behind this was the resentment of being inferior. When Belgium claimed Rwanda and surrounding areas for German East Africa in about 1924, there became tension between two tribes. The Belgiums favored the Tutsi (which were 12% of the population) and the Hutu (85% of population) grew angry for being considered inferior. This struggle waged on for sixty years and finally hit its peak.…

    • 417 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    After WW1 Belgium took control of Rwanda and favored the minority, Tutsis, of the majority, Hutus, who were angered after Belgium left Rwanda and put the Tutsis in power of the Rwandan government (“The Rwandan Genocide”). Later a Hutu rebel group tried to, and did overthrow the Tutsi government (“Rwandan Genocide: 100 days of slaughter-BBC News”). This led to an estimated 300,000 Tutsi refugees that would flee the country in fear of Hutu rule and brutality (“Rwandan Genocide: 100 days of slaughter-BBC News”). After the Tutsis fled to the neighboring countries, the Rwandan Patriotic Force also know as the RPF, was created in response to the Hutu rebel group taking control (“Rwandan Genocide: 100 days of slaughter-BBC News”). Even before the genocide, conflict forced many Tutsis to flee in fear of a genocide which would eventually…

    • 756 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Conflict in Rwanda was caused by many actions throughout history and resentment and anger being built up which led to one swift cruel act - genocide. The road to genocide begins with labels, or classification. The people who brought these racist ideas to a once peaceful Rwanda in the first place were Belgian colonists who believed the white race was superior. Rwanda became a colony of Belgium in 1914, and, gained independence from Belgium in the 1960s (“Year of Africa”). Following Rwanda gaining independence from Belgium began the dispute to figure out who would rule Rwanda after the Belgians left and there was no one the favor, the Tutsis. This was when the genocide broke…

    • 754 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Supporting Evidence #1:)Under Belgium rule rwanda was made into two different groups the tutsi and the hutu. The hutu was made as a work force and the tutsi were used as extended belgium rule.McCormack, Pete. (2006)…

    • 678 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Canadian Peacekeeping

    • 541 Words
    • 3 Pages

    In the past few years,Canada has acted as a peacekeeper protecting the world from major conflicts.However, Canada has also participated in numerous wars but, has chosen the path of peacekeeping rather than indulging in violent wars. According to, A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, “All wars signify the failure of conflict resolution mechanisms, and they need post-war rebuilding of faith, trust and confidence”(Source, 2019). During the post war period, Canada has used political and negotiative methods of reaching peaceful conclusions to a war. Millions of Canadians have served the country for many peaceful resolutions. Canada is initially known for its peacekeeping nation as it illustrates some main points such as, preventing war conflicts in the Suez Crisis which is the main point on how Canada as as nation became a peacekeeping nation, Canadians have participated in the…

    • 541 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Rwanda is located in Central/Eastern Africa and is boarded the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda. Rwanda's capital city is Kigali, it is the largest city in Rwanda, its population is more than 1 million. The size of Rwanda is 281.9 mi², the bigger houses and office buildings are on the tops of the ridges, and the poorer people live in the valleys. The city is really big, it has a lot of people.…

    • 794 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In Eastern Africa, Rwanda can be found. Rwanda has the majority of the ethnic group “Hutu”. The other ethnic group in Rwanda is the “Tutsi”. These groups of people were formed by colonization of the Belgians based on the appearance of the Rwandan people. The Tutsi were the people who were known for their more appealing features.…

    • 794 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Rwandan Genocide Dbq

    • 954 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Genocide, and act that said to never occur again by the Genocide Convention, has come through time and time again. Each genocide, including the Rwandan Genocide, leaving countless numbers of men, women, and children wounded and lifeless. The imperialism brought by the Belgian empire onto Rwanda was the start of the deadly massacre. The lack of international aid from the rest of the world caused the genocide to last longer and longer eventually ending after 100 days. Finally a young population gave the people of Rwanda a little more motivation to start the horrifying mass killing. Imperialism, lack of international aid, and a young population were all factors in the start of the genocide but clearly imperialism is the most significant which without the genocide would have never started.…

    • 954 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Imperialism In Rwanda

    • 1380 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Rwanda, a small landlocked country in central Africa, has a long and rich history of differences and conflicts. One of the most known historic events of this region is the Rwandan Genocide which took 800,000 lives over the course of four months (Britannica). The conflict between two tribal groups, the Hutu and Tutsis, had been accumulating for decades before it finally reached its breaking point. The Rwandan genocide can be attributed to three main factors: Belgian colonial policies, tribal tensions between the Hutus and Tutsis, and the assassination of the Rwandan president. Before European colonization Rwanda was united under a total Tutsi government.…

    • 1380 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    April 6, 1994, not even more than twenty years ago, was the beginning of a genocide that changed our world forever. The Hutus planned and achieved a massacre to try wipe out the Tutsi and the moderate Hutu population in the African country of Rwanda. As the slaughter continued the rest of the world stood by and silently watched. This lasted one hundred days and killed nearly eight-hundred-thousand Tutsis and moderate Hutus. A few reasons that led up to the Rwandan Genocide, was the colonization of Belgium to Rwanda, culture bias, and the inaction of the United States, United Nations, and the world.…

    • 1187 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Lack Of Leadership In Canada

    • 2694 Words
    • 11 Pages

    The fax reports showed that the UN missions had proof that there were militia training camps and that weapons were passed out to Tutsis- an obvious move of preparation of a massacre. Major Brent Beardsley a military aide to Romeo Dallaire during the genocide said, “Ottawa knew something was going on. . . everyone was sitting back and waiting for some else to take a lead,”(Black). Canada had reports foreshadowing a civil war and we chose to ignore them. Beardsley’s statement shows that Canada did not take a leadership role and just sat back and waited for someone else to take it. We should have taken action and proposed a plan to stop the genocide as soon as we were getting these gruesome reports. Beardsley also says that the government did not have Rwanda has a priority and because of this, they chose to ignore the reports (Black). This shows Canada’s ignorance of the situation. Canada had an attitude of “it’s not our problem” and because it doesn 't affect Canada in a major way, they decided to ignore the situation. Even our then foreign affairs minister, Andre Ouellet, acknowledged our…

    • 2694 Words
    • 11 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Essay On Rwanda Genocide

    • 447 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Genocide, the mass murder of a specific group of people. Rwanda, a small country about the size of Maryland, USA, located near the equator, it shares borders with Tanzania, Burundi, Uganda, and the Democratic Republic Of The Congo. In April to July of 1994, Rwanda went through genocide. The manslaughter of five hundred thousand to estimated about one million Tutsi had persevered for only one hundred days. The capital of Rwanda is Kigali, Rwanda, currency is the rwandan franc, and life expectancy is forty years old.The method of human communication in Rwanda is Kinyarwanda, French, English, Kiswahili. In 1994, the country's population had about seven million people there was about eighty five percent Hutus, fourteen percent tutsi and one percent Twa.…

    • 447 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Canada In Rwanda

    • 642 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The Rwanda genocide has been known as one of humanity’s biggest failure in terms of scale of casualties and course of action taken by developed nations. An estimate of about 800,000 – 1,000,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus’ were killed by Hutu extremists. This resulted in the exodus of 2,000,000 Tutsis’ from Rwanda to countries surrounding the nation, this event was known as the Great Lake refugee crisis. What was Canada’s role in combating the Rwanda genocide? Canada took the role as the leader of the attempted prevention of the genocide that took place in Rwanda. The nation was the driving force in the United Nations. Although these efforts could not prevent the devastation of the conflict, it signified Canada’s relentless efforts in Rwanda…

    • 642 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In 1994, 800,000 Rwandan people were killed in just 100 days. This makes the Rwandan genocide one of the worst genocides in history. The Rwandan people, which consist of the Twa, the Tutsi and the Hutu, all speak the same language and had been living together with only minor conflict between the groups until 1959 (“Rwanda genocide of 1994”). In 1959, tensions flared when the Hutu people attacked the Tutsi in retaliation for the Tutsi supposedly killing a Hutu leader (“Rwanda genocide of 1994”). Over the next thirty-five years, the Hutu abolished the Tutsi monarchy and rose to power (“Rwanda genocide of 1994”).…

    • 587 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays

Related Topics