Tag Archives: Rwanda genocide

Genocide is defined as the mass murder of an ethnic or racial group. Throughout history there have been a number of genocide occurrences in various locations all throughout the world. One of the fairly recent tragic events was the 1994 Rwandan genocide, when thousands upon thousands of people of Rwanda, Africa were brutally killed. The Rwandan genocide specifically targeted the Rwandan people of Tutsis and Hutus, two of the three primary ethnic groups that reside in the African country of Rwanda. Due to internal conflicts and power struggles within the Rwanda government, the Rwanda genocide was initiated by its own people, the Hutu people, who are considered higher up in the social hierarchy ladder than the Tutsis or the Twas, the third main ethnic group of Rwanda. The Rwanda genocide is thought to have been initiated by the assassination of former Rwandan President Juvénal Habyarimana. Habyarimana was assassinated on April 6, 1994 when the airplane he was riding in was shot down. The former president of neighboring country Burundi, Cyprien Ntaryamira, was also in the aircraft when it was targeted and shot down near the Kigali International Airport. Former president of approximately 20 years, Juvénal Habyarimana was of the Hutu … Continue reading