What was rwanda like before the conflict

The monarchy was abolished in , leading to further attacks against the Tutsis. In Rwanda was granted independence from Belgium and George Kayibanda from the Hutu nationalist party came to power. The years following independence saw repeated massacres of Tutsis. There were also attacks on Hutus by Tutsis, who saw themselves denied political representation as the nation became a one-party State. Tensions were further inflamed by increasing pressures on the Rwandan economy, resulting in rising levels of poverty and discontent.

Theoneste Bagosora sentenced to life imprisonment at UN tribunal for masterminding genocide. UN war crimes court finds former army chaplain Emmanuel Rukundo guilty of genocide, sexual assault and kidnapping during genocide, sentences him to 25 years in jail.

France and Rwanda restore diplomatic relations, three years after they were severed over a row about responsibility for the s genocide. Kagame re-elected. Rwanda denies the charge. Image source, AFP. However, Tutsis are often taller and thinner than Hutus, with some saying their origins lie in Ethiopia. During the genocide, the bodies of Tutsis were thrown into rivers, with their killers saying they were being sent back to Ethiopia.

When the Belgian colonists arrived in , they produced identity cards classifying people according to their ethnicity.

The Belgians considered the Tutsis to be superior to the Hutus. Not surprisingly, the Tutsis welcomed this idea, and for the next 20 years they enjoyed better jobs and educational opportunities than their neighbours. Resentment among the Hutus gradually built up, culminating in a series of riots in More than 20, Tutsis were killed, and many more fled to the neighbouring countries of Burundi, Tanzania and Uganda. When Belgium relinquished power and granted Rwanda independence in , the Hutus took their place.

Over subsequent decades, the Tutsis were portrayed as the scapegoats for every crisis. This was still the case in the years before the genocide. The economic situation worsened and the incumbent president, Juvenal Habyarimana, began losing popularity. Their aim was to overthrow Habyarimana and secure their right to return to their homeland.

Habyarimana chose to exploit this threat as a way to bring dissident Hutus back to his side, and Tutsis inside Rwanda were accused of being RPF collaborators. In August , after several attacks and months of negotiation, a peace accord was signed between Habyarimana and the RPF, but it did little to stop the continued unrest. When Habyarimana's plane was shot down at the beginning of April , it was the final nail in the coffin. The genocide in Rwanda, like all genocides, was a complex phenomenon that resulted from a combination of long-term structural factors as well as more immediate decisions taken by powerful actors.

But all these circumstances formed the context in which Rwandans made decisions in this period of crisis, and so must be taken into account in trying to analyze the genocide. Rwanda was very poor, and in the years just before the genocide it had become poorer. Some 90 percent of the population lived off the land, and with significant population growth in recent decades most farmers lacked sufficient land to provide for themselves and their families.

In the late s economic conditions worsened because of drought, a sharp drop in world market prices for coffee and tea the export crops that provided the major sources of foreign exchange , and limits on government spending imposed by international financial institutions. Of the three groups that comprised the population, one, the Twa, was so small as to play no political role. Of the other two, the Hutu was by far the larger group.