A powerpoint for 11th grade U. S. History about the U.S.'s intervention in Rwanda

2.  Genocide is defined as the systematic
killing of all of the people from a
national, ethnic, or religious group, or an
attempt to do this.
 It is also called ethnic-cleaning.

3.  Can you think of any other times in
history where genocide has taken
place?

4.  The extermination of more than 10 million
Native Americans in North America
 The Holocaust
 Darfur and the Sudan

5.  Rwanda is a country in Africa that had a
population of around 7 million people in
1994 (currently 309 million people in the
U. S.).
 The people were comprised of 3 main
groups: the Hutu (85%), the Tutsis(14%),
and the Twa (1%).

6.  It had been previously colonized by
Germany.
 Once Germany signed the Treaty of
Versailles, control of Belgium went to
Belgium.
 FACT CHECK: Which war did the Treaty
of Versailles end?

7.  The Hutus and the Tutsis speak the same
language.
 They embrace the same cultural
practices.
 The ethnic groups were turned into a
class system under the Belgians in 1918.

8.  Both the Germans and the Belgians
developed a class system in Rwanda
(one group received better treatment
than another).
 Both countries favored the Tutsis over the
Hutu.
 Belgium took things a step further by
creating ethnic identity cards for them to
carry so people would know if they were
Hutu or Tutsi.

9.  The Tutsis were treated as if they were far
more superior than the Hutus.
 They were given better jobs, placed in
official positions, and offered Western-
styled education.
 The Tutsis eventually began to see
themselves as “better” than the Hutus.

11.  Hutu groups began to rebel against both
the Belgians and the Tutsis.
 Belgian troops were forced to withdraw
from Rwanda in 1962.
 Tutsis, knowing that their protection
would be gone with the Belgians, Tutsi
citizens fled Rwanda by the thousands.

12.  By 1960, more than half of the Tutsi
population had been forced to flee.
 By 1973, the Hutu began purging the
Tutsis from local universities. There was
an ethnic quota put on hiring. Tutsis
weren’t allowed to have more than 9%
of the available jobs.

13.  Widespread killings of Tutsi citizens began
again.
 Politicians and journalists who were
opposed to the killings were also singled
out.
 The fighting between the two groups
continued throughout the 70s and the 80s.
 In 1993, the current Hutu president decided
to sign a peace agreement between the
two groups.

14.  The United Nations sent in troops to help
the Hutu president coordinate the
peace agreement between the Hutus
and the Tutsi rebels.
 Instead of the Hutu president
immediately signing the resolution, he
stalled on it.
 This heightened tensions between the
two groups and the massacres began
again.

16.  Hutu extremist groups began to use the
radio to call for the annihilation of all of the
Tutsis in Rwanda. The extremists informed
the people that they would use a code
when it was time to begin eliminating them.
The code would be “cut the tall trees”.
 Various human rights groups began to beg
the international community to intervene.

17.  On April 6, 1994, the plane that was
carrying the Hutu president was shot
down. Hutu rebels immediately blamed
the Tutsis.
 The Rwandan Armed Forces went house
to house killing Tutsis. They also killed
politicians that they believed had
“tricked” the president into accepting
the idea of a peace agreement.

20.  They wiped out entire neighborhoods at
a time.
 It is estimated that at least 200,000
people participated in the violence
against the Tutsis.
 Hutus that chose not to participate in the
mass killings were killed themselves.
 Tutsi women were captured and brutally
assaulted at the hands of Tutsi rebels.

22.  Soldiers from the United Nations
desperately wanted to help the Tutsis,
but they had only been given orders to
“monitor” the situation.
 After repeated requests for permission to
intervene were denied, the soldiers
accepted their fate and watched idly as
hundreds of thousands of Tutsi citizens
were killed.

23.  Belgian soldiers had been assigned to
protect the Hutu prime minister since he
was seen as “moderate”.
 Hutu rebels killed the prime minister and the
Belgian troops. They were tortured, shot
and hacked to death with machetes.
 Instead of sending in more troops, the
United Nations decided to cut the number
of troops stationed in Rwanda (the troops
were reduced from 2500 to 250).

25.  24 days later(April 30, 1994), the United
Nations Security Counsel met to discuss
the situation in Rwanda.
 They condemned the acts of the Hutu
militia, but they were very careful not to
use the word “genocide” in their
meeting.
 Had they described the situation as
“genocide”, they would have been
forced to act.

26.  Had the word “genocide” actually been
used, the Security Counsel would have
had a legal obligation to “prevent and
punish” those committing the crimes.
 Thousands of Rwandans were able to
flee to nearby countries, but hundreds of
thousands continued to be slaughtered.

28.  17 days later (May 17, 1994), the United
Nations makes the decision to send in
6800 troops.
 Troops were not immediately sent in
because of infighting between the
United States and the other members of
the U. N. over who was going to pay for
the troops and the equipment.

30.  The U. N. dispatched French soldiers
(instead of an international police force)
into Rwanda to establish Refugee camps
and “safe areas” for the fleeing Tutsis.
 Killings continue and eventually spread
to the “safe” areas.

31.  June 22, 1994, more than two months
after the killings began, the United States
finally uses the word
“GENOCIDE”.
 Ethiopian troops are dispatched. An
international police force is still not sent
in.
 The killings continue.

33.  4 months later in November, the United
Nations appoints an international court
and gives them power to prosecute
anyone suspected of being involved in
genocide. It would be a year before
they would issue their first indictments.
 Meanwhile, the West joined together
and pledged to send $600 million to help
aid the Rwandans.

34.  September 20, 1995, Pope John Paul II
traveled to Africa and pleaded for
peace in Rwanda.
 In December 1996, trials finally began for
Hutus that were involved in the 1994
genocide.
 In December 1999, a Hutu militia leader
was found guilty for his role in the 1994
murders.