Hey guys,

My name is Victoria and I'm doing a project on Rwanda. Its a small country in Africa and its split into three different groups ( Hutus, Tutsis, and Twa). It all started by the death of Rwanda president, Juvenal Habyarimana, a Hutu, he was killed on April 6,1994. They said it was a Tutsi that killed their president. So then the Hutus became angry, and thats what started the genocide. There were some Hutus that were against killing the Tutsis and they were killed as well. The genocide was in our life time, from April to June 1994.

This is an important topic because an estimated 800,000 Tutsis were killed in the three month time period. There were a lot of innocent people killed, and the whole world just turned their backs on them. When the United States hear about this issue the only thing they did was pick up our people and we didn't help anyone else. The US army's orders were to get the American's out of Africa and the soldiers were not to talk or help any of the Tutsis.There were only a few people who stayed behind and tried to help, they didn't save much, but they saved more then they would have if they left. The Hutus probably killed about three quarters of the Tutsi population. When the genocide was over many people went to Rwanda to see what happened. They felt terrible for what happened and felt they could have done more.

Some interesting facts about the Rwanda Genocide is not only the Tutsis were killed, but people suspected as a Tutsi were killed as well. The Hutus killed them in their homes,churches, and anywhere they were found. The Hutus killed the Tutsis entire families, even their babies. They tried to flee at road blocks set up all across the country. The Tutsi women were systematically and brutally raped. An estimates 18% of the 700,000 children still have difficult circumstances. The Children had to feel,clothing,if they went to school or not all by themselves now. 96% kids saw a massacres and 80% lost there families. Some children live on there own and others are in an orphanage.

The reason why I chose this topic was because I think everyone should know about this, and know about genocides. They should learn and hear about what happened, and hear some of the Tutsis who survived stories. This happened in our life time and our country or any other country didn't help, and I don't think its fair, all those poor innocent people dying. If this happened in our country we would want some help and protection, not everyone turning there backs on us.

Survey

1. Do you think the belief that genocide should be used in certain situations to gain power in a country or nation?

A. Yes (explain)
B. No (explain)


2. The United Nations is an organization whos main purpose is to achieve world peace. In 1994 they refused to help Rwanda when asked for help. Do you think it was right for them to stay out of the situation or should they have helped?

A. Yes, the U.N. should have come to their aid (explain)
B. No, the U.N. should have stayed out (explain)

Sources

1. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/1288230.stm
2. http://www.unitedhumanrights.org/genocide/genocide_in_rwanda.htm
3. http://www.rwanda-genocide.org/
4. http://www.nytimes.com/library/world/africa/index-rwanda-children.html
5. http://mediafilter.org/MFF/CAQ/CAQ52Rwanda.html
6. http://www.ppu.uk/genocide/g_rwanda1.htm