When the Devil Took Control of Paradise on Earth
A world wearied by the brutality of the twentieth century
watched in horror in 1994 as the millennium’s final act of genocide played out
over a period of a hundred days in a tiny African country. Few
Americans had heard of Rwanda before this terrible spurt of violence brought the name into their nightly news broadcasts.
Estimates range up to as many as one million people slaughtered during those few bloody months, when neighbor killed neighbor as the majority Hutu people tried to wipe out their fellow Rwandese, the Tutsi minority. The slaughter revealed the impotence of the international community in the face of an unimaginable scale of mass murder by arson and machete.
The roots of the horror went deep. A rivalry reaching back to precolonial times was intensified when European empire-builders adopted the divide-and-conquer principle, exploiting existing discord between Hutu farmers and Tutsi cattle herders. A perverse racial ideology led the Belgian colonial administration to favor the minority Tutsis over the majority Hutus. Traditionally fluid distinctions between the two groups were solidified when the Europeans imposed ethnic classifications, and government-issued ID cards fixed people’s identity as either Hutus or Tutsis.
Estimates range up to as many as one million people slaughtered during those few bloody months, when neighbor killed neighbor as the majority Hutu people tried to wipe out their fellow Rwandese, the Tutsi minority. The slaughter revealed the impotence of the international community in the face of an unimaginable scale of mass murder by arson and machete.
The roots of the horror went deep. A rivalry reaching back to precolonial times was intensified when European empire-builders adopted the divide-and-conquer principle, exploiting existing discord between Hutu farmers and Tutsi cattle herders. A perverse racial ideology led the Belgian colonial administration to favor the minority Tutsis over the majority Hutus. Traditionally fluid distinctions between the two groups were solidified when the Europeans imposed ethnic classifications, and government-issued ID cards fixed people’s identity as either Hutus or Tutsis.
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Violence broke out in
1959, toward the end of colonial rule, when the Hutus attacked
the Tutsis, forcing tens of thousands into refugee camps in
neighboring countries. The disorder continued
after independence in 1962, with Tutsi exiles launching raids across the
borders, and Hutus responding with brutal reprisals against the Tutsis
still remaining within Rwanda.
In 1973, Hutu General Juvenal Habyarimana seized the presidency in a military coup. Conflict subsided, and violence against Tutsis became less common, though anti-Tutsi discrimination was institutionalized by the government.
Under Habyarimana the country enjoyed relative prosperity for a few years. Yet the refugee camps still existed on the country’s borders, filled with Tutsis who were unable to return home. Resentment grew among a generation of refugees who had known nothing but the camps and among the Tutsi diaspora scattered around the globe.
In 1988, the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) was founded in Kampala, Uganda, as a political and military movement with the stated aims of securing repatriation of Rwandans in exile, reforming the military-led government, and instituting political power-sharing. The ranks of the RPF included some Hutus, but the majority, particularly those in leadership positions, were Tutsi refugees.
In 1973, Hutu General Juvenal Habyarimana seized the presidency in a military coup. Conflict subsided, and violence against Tutsis became less common, though anti-Tutsi discrimination was institutionalized by the government.
Under Habyarimana the country enjoyed relative prosperity for a few years. Yet the refugee camps still existed on the country’s borders, filled with Tutsis who were unable to return home. Resentment grew among a generation of refugees who had known nothing but the camps and among the Tutsi diaspora scattered around the globe.
In 1988, the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) was founded in Kampala, Uganda, as a political and military movement with the stated aims of securing repatriation of Rwandans in exile, reforming the military-led government, and instituting political power-sharing. The ranks of the RPF included some Hutus, but the majority, particularly those in leadership positions, were Tutsi refugees.
In 1990, the RPF invaded northern Rwanda from Uganda, initiating the Rwandan Civil War. The war weakened the authority of President Habyarimana, and in 1992 mass demonstrations forced him to enter a coalition with domestic opposition parties and seek peace with the RPF. The two sides agreed to a cease-fire and negotiated a peace settlement in 1993. The United Nations Security Council established the UN Assistance Mission for Rwanda (UNAMIR) with a mandate encompassing peacekeeping, humanitarian assistance, and general support for the peace process.
The peace held for only a few months. On April 6, 1994, a plane carrying Habyarimana and the president of neighboring Burundi, Cyprien Ntaryamira, was shot down by a rocket attack near the airport in Rwanda’s capital city, Kigali, killing both presidents.
Each side accused the other over the double assassination; Hutus claimed the Tutsis were to blame, while Tutsis believed the plane was brought down by Hutus opposed to the peace settlement. The truth of the matter is still not known, but within hours of the plane’s destruction, violence exploded. Under orders of the interim government, and driven by the virulent “Hutu Power” ideology, which declared all dealings with Tutsi to be traitorous, a campaign of extermination began against both Tutsis and politically moderate Hutus.
The peace held for only a few months. On April 6, 1994, a plane carrying Habyarimana and the president of neighboring Burundi, Cyprien Ntaryamira, was shot down by a rocket attack near the airport in Rwanda’s capital city, Kigali, killing both presidents.
Each side accused the other over the double assassination; Hutus claimed the Tutsis were to blame, while Tutsis believed the plane was brought down by Hutus opposed to the peace settlement. The truth of the matter is still not known, but within hours of the plane’s destruction, violence exploded. Under orders of the interim government, and driven by the virulent “Hutu Power” ideology, which declared all dealings with Tutsi to be traitorous, a campaign of extermination began against both Tutsis and politically moderate Hutus.
One Hundred Days of Horror
Far from a spontaneous, uncontrollable outpouring of hatred, the slaughter was highly organized and had been meticulously planned in advance by a government that was willing to wipe out an entire ethnic group to hold on to power. After the 1993 peace accords were signed, Hutu businessmen
opposed to the settlement prepared for what was to come by importing
more than half a million machetes, and anti-Tutsi political parties
organized paramilitary forces to take the lead in carrying out
massacres. Genocide was openly discussed in the Hutu-dominated
government cabinet meetings.
The downing of the presidents’ plane provided the excuse to put these plans into effect. National organizers included top-ranking government officials and members of the army, while at the local level, mayors and police officers coordinated planning, goaded on by vicious propaganda in the print media and on the radio.
Because of widespread illiteracy, the radio was particularly important in spreading the message of the genocidaires, as they came to be called. During the civil war and in the months before the shooting down of the presidential plane, radio stations controlled by Hutu Power extremists indoctrinated Hutu civilians into believing that Tutsis were planning to kill them and take total control of the country. Hutu farmers were told they had to strike first and protect their families by eliminating their Tutsi neighbors before this supposed Tutsi conspiracy could take place.
Many Tutsis had already been killed because of this virulent slander. Now, with the presidents’ assassinations seeming to confirm the lies, horrific but systematic massacres began. Less than half an hour after the plane crash on April 6, roadblocks were set up in a section of Kigali near the airport, and members of the Presidential Guard started killing Tutsi civilians.
The downing of the presidents’ plane provided the excuse to put these plans into effect. National organizers included top-ranking government officials and members of the army, while at the local level, mayors and police officers coordinated planning, goaded on by vicious propaganda in the print media and on the radio.
Because of widespread illiteracy, the radio was particularly important in spreading the message of the genocidaires, as they came to be called. During the civil war and in the months before the shooting down of the presidential plane, radio stations controlled by Hutu Power extremists indoctrinated Hutu civilians into believing that Tutsis were planning to kill them and take total control of the country. Hutu farmers were told they had to strike first and protect their families by eliminating their Tutsi neighbors before this supposed Tutsi conspiracy could take place.
Many Tutsis had already been killed because of this virulent slander. Now, with the presidents’ assassinations seeming to confirm the lies, horrific but systematic massacres began. Less than half an hour after the plane crash on April 6, roadblocks were set up in a section of Kigali near the airport, and members of the Presidential Guard started killing Tutsi civilians.
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The next day, April 7, radio broadcasts began claiming that it was the RPF and a contingent of UN soldiers who had shot down the presidents’ plane. The broadcasts called for elimination of Tutsi “cockroaches.” Later that day, the prime minister, Agathe Uwiliyingimana, and ten Belgian UN peacekeepers assigned to protect her were brutally murdered by government soldiers in an attack on her home.
Other moderate Hutu members of the government were abducted and killed, along with their families, despite UNAMIR escorts assigned to protect them. Hundreds of roadblocks were set up around the country, and the colonial-era ID cards allowed genocidaires to pick out Tutsis for elimination. Groups of Hutu extremists, including a particularly feared militia called the Interahamwe, began house-by-house searches for Tutsis, who were murdered with clubs and machetes. Radio broadcasts instructed Hutu civilians that they would be shot if they didn’t participate in the slaughter.
The world’s nations abandoned their embassies in Kigali. On April 9, as UN observers witnessed the massacre of children and other Tutsis who had taken refuge at a Polish church in Gikondo, a thousand heavily armed European troops arrived to escort European civilian personnel out of the country. The U.S. ambassador and 250 Americans were evacuated, while Rwandese employees of relief agencies were executed in front of their foreign colleagues.
Other moderate Hutu members of the government were abducted and killed, along with their families, despite UNAMIR escorts assigned to protect them. Hundreds of roadblocks were set up around the country, and the colonial-era ID cards allowed genocidaires to pick out Tutsis for elimination. Groups of Hutu extremists, including a particularly feared militia called the Interahamwe, began house-by-house searches for Tutsis, who were murdered with clubs and machetes. Radio broadcasts instructed Hutu civilians that they would be shot if they didn’t participate in the slaughter.
The world’s nations abandoned their embassies in Kigali. On April 9, as UN observers witnessed the massacre of children and other Tutsis who had taken refuge at a Polish church in Gikondo, a thousand heavily armed European troops arrived to escort European civilian personnel out of the country. The U.S. ambassador and 250 Americans were evacuated, while Rwandese employees of relief agencies were executed in front of their foreign colleagues.
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The UNAMIR force commander, Canadian Lieutenant-General Roméo Dallaire, had warned the UN in January of plans by the Interahamwe militia to provoke a fight with the Belgian troops, who, the militia calculated, would then be withdrawn by Belgium, leaving Tutsi civilians defenseless. Now Dallaire was forced to stand by helplessly as his warnings became reality: after the massacre of the troops escorting Agathe Uwiliyingimana, Belgium withdrew the rest of its force.
The UN Security Council ordered peacekeepers not to interfere in the slaughter unless they or their fellow peacekeepers were in danger, and Dallaire was directed to focus on evacuating foreign nationals from Rwanda. The United States was reluctant to get involved and refused to acknowledge the seriousness of the situation by calling the killings what they were: genocide.
Tutsis fled their homes, seeking safety in numbers in churches, schools, and hotels, only to find themselves trapped. Buildings were burned down or bulldozed, and those inside were slaughtered by fire, machete, grenade, and rifle.
In one notorious case, Tutsis took refuge in the Don Bosco Technical School in Kicukiro, which Belgian UNAMIR soldiers had been using as their barracks, just as Belgium decided to pull out its troops. The Interahamwe gathered outside, drinking beer and chanting “Hutu Power” as they waited for the Belgians to leave. Terrified Tutsis pleaded with the troops to stay and protect them, but the UN forces eventually withdrew. The militia entered as the soldiers left, and 2,000 defenseless people, including hundreds of children, were brutally massacred within hours of the troop withdrawal.
The UN Security Council ordered peacekeepers not to interfere in the slaughter unless they or their fellow peacekeepers were in danger, and Dallaire was directed to focus on evacuating foreign nationals from Rwanda. The United States was reluctant to get involved and refused to acknowledge the seriousness of the situation by calling the killings what they were: genocide.
Tutsis fled their homes, seeking safety in numbers in churches, schools, and hotels, only to find themselves trapped. Buildings were burned down or bulldozed, and those inside were slaughtered by fire, machete, grenade, and rifle.
In one notorious case, Tutsis took refuge in the Don Bosco Technical School in Kicukiro, which Belgian UNAMIR soldiers had been using as their barracks, just as Belgium decided to pull out its troops. The Interahamwe gathered outside, drinking beer and chanting “Hutu Power” as they waited for the Belgians to leave. Terrified Tutsis pleaded with the troops to stay and protect them, but the UN forces eventually withdrew. The militia entered as the soldiers left, and 2,000 defenseless people, including hundreds of children, were brutally massacred within hours of the troop withdrawal.
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Lieutenant-General Dallaire was able to save 20,000 lives by using his
remaining few forces to establish safe zones in urban areas, but many
more died as the UN Security Council debated what, if anything, should
be done about the Rwanda issue. Rwanda was itself a Security Council
member, and the Hutu government’s ambassador to the UN assured fellow council
members that talk of genocide was greatly exaggerated .
On April 21, as the International Red Cross estimated deaths at more than 100,000, the UN slashed the strength of its forces in Rwanda by 90%. UNAMIR, never large enough to be effective against the genocidal onslaught, was reduced from an initial 2,165 to just 270 troops.
On April 30, the UN Security Council managed to come to an agreement on a resolution condemning the killings but refused to include the word “genocide.” Use of the word would have triggered a legal obligation for the UN to take steps to prevent the slaughter and punish the perpetrators. Not until May 17, after an estimated 500,000 deaths, did the UN concede that “acts of genocide may have been committed,” and agreed to assign 5,500 peacekeepers to UNAMIR.
But deployment was delayed by disagreements over costs. The United States was asked to contribute fifty armored personnel carriers, but the U.S. Army wanted to charge $6.5 million just to transport them. Killings continued day by day and week by week as the nations of the world squabbled over the price of intervention.
On April 21, as the International Red Cross estimated deaths at more than 100,000, the UN slashed the strength of its forces in Rwanda by 90%. UNAMIR, never large enough to be effective against the genocidal onslaught, was reduced from an initial 2,165 to just 270 troops.
On April 30, the UN Security Council managed to come to an agreement on a resolution condemning the killings but refused to include the word “genocide.” Use of the word would have triggered a legal obligation for the UN to take steps to prevent the slaughter and punish the perpetrators. Not until May 17, after an estimated 500,000 deaths, did the UN concede that “acts of genocide may have been committed,” and agreed to assign 5,500 peacekeepers to UNAMIR.
But deployment was delayed by disagreements over costs. The United States was asked to contribute fifty armored personnel carriers, but the U.S. Army wanted to charge $6.5 million just to transport them. Killings continued day by day and week by week as the nations of the world squabbled over the price of intervention.
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As the UN dithered, the RPF was conducting conventional
warfare against the genocidal government; on May 22, the RPF took
control of Kigali Airport as well as the Presidential Guard’s headquarters, the Kanombe Barracks, consolidating
control over the northern and eastern regions of the country.
Meanwhile, tens of thousands of refugees were flooding into the neighboring countries of Burundi, Tanzania, and Zaire (soon to be renamed as the Democratic Republic of the Congo), where many died of dysentery and cholera in the overcrowded refugee camps that sprang up along the borders. By late July, deaths in the camps would reach 2,000 a week; during one twenty-four-hour period, 7,000 people died in the camps around Goma in Zaire.
On June 18, the French government announced its intention to organize a “safe zone” in the southwest region of Rwanda. Historically, the French had been Hutu supporters because they feared that the Tutsi leadership, many of whom had taken refuge in English-speaking African countries such as Uganda, would reduce the French sphere of influence in Africa if they were able to wrest control from the ruling Hutus. The French government had provided the Habyarimana government with extensive military and diplomatic support, including military intervention during the RPF’s offensive in 1990.
Nevertheless, with no sign of the promised UN deployment, the Security Council authorized a two-month humanitarian mission by 2,500 French troops with an additional 500 troops from seven African countries. They landed in Goma, across the Rwandan border in Zaire, and deployed throughout southwest Rwanda in an area they called the “Zone Turquoise.” Genocidaires on the run from the advancing RPF were cheered by the news of an intervention by the Hutus’ French allies, and the hunt for Tutsis who had eluded the genocide continued with renewed zeal.
French troops often arrived in areas only after genocidaires had expelled or killed the Tutsi residents. The French allowed the Hutu government to move its radio transmitter into the Turquoise Zone to continue broadcasts urging the elimination of the Tutsi. French forces also failed to detain government officials known to be involved in coordinating the genocide, claiming that their mandate from the UN contained no authorization to investigate or arrest suspected war criminals.
Although the French provided the only foreign intervention to curtail the killing after UNAMIR was slashed, international observers such as Human Rights Watch claimed that the French military presence effectively helped the genocidaires to escape from the RPF and flee into neighboring Zaire. Human Rights Watch reported that some French military officers had talked openly of “breaking the back of the RPF.” In 2006, lawsuits filed in Paris claimed complicity in crimes against humanity by the French forces and alleged that French soldiers both helped the Interahamwe militia find their victims and carried out atrocities themselves.
Meanwhile, tens of thousands of refugees were flooding into the neighboring countries of Burundi, Tanzania, and Zaire (soon to be renamed as the Democratic Republic of the Congo), where many died of dysentery and cholera in the overcrowded refugee camps that sprang up along the borders. By late July, deaths in the camps would reach 2,000 a week; during one twenty-four-hour period, 7,000 people died in the camps around Goma in Zaire.
On June 18, the French government announced its intention to organize a “safe zone” in the southwest region of Rwanda. Historically, the French had been Hutu supporters because they feared that the Tutsi leadership, many of whom had taken refuge in English-speaking African countries such as Uganda, would reduce the French sphere of influence in Africa if they were able to wrest control from the ruling Hutus. The French government had provided the Habyarimana government with extensive military and diplomatic support, including military intervention during the RPF’s offensive in 1990.
Nevertheless, with no sign of the promised UN deployment, the Security Council authorized a two-month humanitarian mission by 2,500 French troops with an additional 500 troops from seven African countries. They landed in Goma, across the Rwandan border in Zaire, and deployed throughout southwest Rwanda in an area they called the “Zone Turquoise.” Genocidaires on the run from the advancing RPF were cheered by the news of an intervention by the Hutus’ French allies, and the hunt for Tutsis who had eluded the genocide continued with renewed zeal.
French troops often arrived in areas only after genocidaires had expelled or killed the Tutsi residents. The French allowed the Hutu government to move its radio transmitter into the Turquoise Zone to continue broadcasts urging the elimination of the Tutsi. French forces also failed to detain government officials known to be involved in coordinating the genocide, claiming that their mandate from the UN contained no authorization to investigate or arrest suspected war criminals.
Although the French provided the only foreign intervention to curtail the killing after UNAMIR was slashed, international observers such as Human Rights Watch claimed that the French military presence effectively helped the genocidaires to escape from the RPF and flee into neighboring Zaire. Human Rights Watch reported that some French military officers had talked openly of “breaking the back of the RPF.” In 2006, lawsuits filed in Paris claimed complicity in crimes against humanity by the French forces and alleged that French soldiers both helped the Interahamwe militia find their victims and carried out atrocities themselves.
The Aftermath
The RPF offensive continued, methodically cutting off government supply routes and encircling Kigali. Finally, on July 4. the RPF took control of Kigali and two weeks later overran the center of the extremist Hutu government, the northwestern town of Gisenyi. The Hutu government collapsed. The RPF declared victory on July 18 and formed an interim government of national unity. A moderate Hutu, Pasteur Bizimungu, was sworn in as president of the new government, with the leader of the RPF, Paul Kagame, as vice president.
The Hutu leadership fled through the Turquoise Zone to the refugee camps in Zaire, followed by a tide of two million Hutu refugees, both civilians and military. The exodus was as well planned as the genocide, with refugee camps hugging the Rwandan borders as the Hutu leadership simply transferred administrative functions to the camps, which became bases for attacks launched against the new government. Five huge camps around Goma housed 30,000 to 40,000 fully armed soldiers of the former Armed Forces of Rwanda, including an officer corps and transport unit, as well as most of the former Hutu government politicians.
Interahamwe members mingled with the civilian refugees, and the presence in the camps of the government officials who had planned and led the genocide greatly complicated efforts to help the thousands of civilian refugees. Aid shipments were seized by genocidaires, and the masses of civilians went hungry.
With disease, hunger, and overcrowding causing a humanitarian disaster in the refugee camps, the United States finally took action: President Clinton announced the launch of Operation Support Hope on July 22. Two days later, American forces were airlifted to Kigali as well as to Goma in Zaire, Entebbe in Uganda, and Mombasa in Kenya. The task force was headquartered in Entebbe and began airlifting supplies to the refugee camps to supplement the UN’s efforts. The U.S. Army organized water supplies in the Goma refugee camp and helped bury the dead.
After both UNHCR staff and the refugees were threatened by the Interahamwe under the orders of the exiled leadership, repatriation efforts by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) were halted, and on August 14, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees called for food airlifts to Goma to cease because they were fueling renewed conflict.
When the Turquoise Zone mandate expired on August 21 and the French troops left Rwanda, RPF forces of the new government immediately occupied the area, causing another wave of Hutu refugees across the border into the camps around Goma. The U.S.’s Operation Support Hope continued supplying other camps until a presidential order on September 27 ended the effort; the last Operation Support Hope airlift left Entebbe on September 29.
The consequences of the genocide lingered in the region, contributing to the so-called Great Lakes Refugee Crisis and conflicts that continue to this day. Militarization of the camps led to the invasion of Zaire by Rwanda and Uganda in 1996, known as the First Congo War. Interahamwe fugitives still roam eastern Zaire (renamed the Democratic Republic of the Congo), raping, looting, and kidnapping villagers to hold as slaves.
The Hutu leadership fled through the Turquoise Zone to the refugee camps in Zaire, followed by a tide of two million Hutu refugees, both civilians and military. The exodus was as well planned as the genocide, with refugee camps hugging the Rwandan borders as the Hutu leadership simply transferred administrative functions to the camps, which became bases for attacks launched against the new government. Five huge camps around Goma housed 30,000 to 40,000 fully armed soldiers of the former Armed Forces of Rwanda, including an officer corps and transport unit, as well as most of the former Hutu government politicians.
Interahamwe members mingled with the civilian refugees, and the presence in the camps of the government officials who had planned and led the genocide greatly complicated efforts to help the thousands of civilian refugees. Aid shipments were seized by genocidaires, and the masses of civilians went hungry.
With disease, hunger, and overcrowding causing a humanitarian disaster in the refugee camps, the United States finally took action: President Clinton announced the launch of Operation Support Hope on July 22. Two days later, American forces were airlifted to Kigali as well as to Goma in Zaire, Entebbe in Uganda, and Mombasa in Kenya. The task force was headquartered in Entebbe and began airlifting supplies to the refugee camps to supplement the UN’s efforts. The U.S. Army organized water supplies in the Goma refugee camp and helped bury the dead.
After both UNHCR staff and the refugees were threatened by the Interahamwe under the orders of the exiled leadership, repatriation efforts by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) were halted, and on August 14, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees called for food airlifts to Goma to cease because they were fueling renewed conflict.
When the Turquoise Zone mandate expired on August 21 and the French troops left Rwanda, RPF forces of the new government immediately occupied the area, causing another wave of Hutu refugees across the border into the camps around Goma. The U.S.’s Operation Support Hope continued supplying other camps until a presidential order on September 27 ended the effort; the last Operation Support Hope airlift left Entebbe on September 29.
The consequences of the genocide lingered in the region, contributing to the so-called Great Lakes Refugee Crisis and conflicts that continue to this day. Militarization of the camps led to the invasion of Zaire by Rwanda and Uganda in 1996, known as the First Congo War. Interahamwe fugitives still roam eastern Zaire (renamed the Democratic Republic of the Congo), raping, looting, and kidnapping villagers to hold as slaves.
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Rwanda’s horror was the world’s shame. The United Nations, established at the end of World War II as the extent of Nazi genocide against the Jews became apparent, proved itself incapable of preventing genocide fifty years later. At the same time as the Bosnians were struggling to resist extermination in the former Yugoslavia, hundreds of miles to the south the Tutsis of Rwanda were being attacked by their own government--and the UN, formed with the words “never again” ringing in the ears of its founders, was powerless to stop either atrocity.
Estimates of the Rwanda death toll range between 500,000 and 1 million out of a population of 7.3 million people. As many as 250,000 women were raped, and as many as 70 percent of them may have been infected with HIV by the rapists. Some 400,000 children were orphaned. Between 10 percent and 20 percent of the dead were Hutus; most of the rest were Tutsis.
Another minority also suffered during the slaughter: often forgotten in this terrible tale are the Twa, a mountain-dwelling pygmy people who make up only 1 percent of the Rwandan population and for generations have suffered prejudice and discrimination from all sides.
By the early 1990s the Twa had been forced out of their ancient territories in Rwanda's forests by the government; many became beggars. Although Tutsis were the target of the genocide, the Hutu killers attacked Twa people as well, and around 30 percent--almost one in three--of the entire Twa population of Rwanda was killed.
Estimates of the Rwanda death toll range between 500,000 and 1 million out of a population of 7.3 million people. As many as 250,000 women were raped, and as many as 70 percent of them may have been infected with HIV by the rapists. Some 400,000 children were orphaned. Between 10 percent and 20 percent of the dead were Hutus; most of the rest were Tutsis.
Another minority also suffered during the slaughter: often forgotten in this terrible tale are the Twa, a mountain-dwelling pygmy people who make up only 1 percent of the Rwandan population and for generations have suffered prejudice and discrimination from all sides.
By the early 1990s the Twa had been forced out of their ancient territories in Rwanda's forests by the government; many became beggars. Although Tutsis were the target of the genocide, the Hutu killers attacked Twa people as well, and around 30 percent--almost one in three--of the entire Twa population of Rwanda was killed.
“We watched as the devil took control of paradise on earth and fed on the blood of the people we were supposed to protect.”
--Roméo Dallaire, Force Commander, UNAMIR, Shake Hands with the Devil (2003)
