1994 Rwandan Genocide

The Recollection

Back in 1994, on BBC news i saw hordes of people fleeing somewhere, it was something about Rwanda. Not much details were given as i remember it was something about a cease-fire gone haywire. In Africa war is something that happens every now and then, so i changed channel.

War has rules. Genocide doesn't.

In 2006 i came to know the extent of killings that went on in Rwanda in April 1994. The atmosphere i felt as close while watching both movies about the crisis (Hotel Rwanda & Shooting Dogs) has left me shocked by the evil that humans are capable of. While i changed channels back in 1994 little did i know that i was witnessing recent footage of a genocide that shocked the world.

The slaughter

In the course of 100 days April 1994 - 925,000 to 1,071,000 people were massacred in the most unambiguous case of genocide in an attempt to exterminate a category of humanity. The massacre of ethnic Tutsis and moderate Hutus, mostly carried out by the extremist Hutu militia group named as the Interahamwe.

Truth was hidden to the the world at large. The BBC footages were edited to portray a civil war. The U.N was pulled out with every foreigner in sight after ten blue-helmets were tortured and killed. More than 2000 Tutsis who occupied the UNAMIR camp in need for protection were hacked to death with machetes by Hutu gangs within minutes of the U.N soldiers departure from the compound. Rwanda became a place where killers outnumbered vastly to those whom they killed. This was the triumph of evil. A genocide branded as a civil war.

The Rwandan Genocide stands out as significant, not only because of the sheer number of people massacred in such a short period of time, but also because of how inadequately the United Nations responded.

The Research
wiki: Rwandan Genocide
The Triumph of Evil (Front Line)
Time line: 100 Days of Slaughter (Front Line)

The Movies based on actual events
imdb: Hotel Rwanda
imdb: Shootings Dogs (BBC Film)