Context
"...Tutsis inside Rwanda were accused of being RPF collaborators."
"Rwanda: How the Genocide Happened." BBC News, BBC, 17 May 2011, www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-13431486.
"Organised gangs of government soldiers and militias hacked their way through the Tutsi population with machetes, or blew them up in churches where they had taken refuge. The extremist ethnic Hutu regime in office in 1994 appeared genuinely to believe that the only way it could hang on to power was by wiping out the ethnic Tutsis completely."
"Rwanda: How the Genocide Happened." BBC News, BBC, 17 May 2011, www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-13431486.
"Soldiers and police officers encouraged ordinary citizens to take part. In some cases, Hutu civilians were forced to murder their Tutsi neighbours by military personnel. Participants were often given incentives, such as money or food, and some were even told they could appropriate the land of the Tutsis they killed."
"Rwanda: How the Genocide Happened." BBC News, BBC, 17 May 2011, www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-13431486.
"This was still the case in the years before the genocide. The economic situation worsened and the incumbent president, Juvenal Habyarimana, began losing popularity. At the same time, Tutsi refugees in Uganda - supported by some moderate Hutus - were forming the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), led by Mr Kagame. Their aim was to overthrow Habyarimana and secure their right to return to their homeland."
"Rwanda: How the Genocide Happened." BBC News, BBC, 17 May 2011, www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-13431486.
"When Belgium relinquished power and granted Rwanda independence in 1962, the Hutus took their place. Over subsequent decades, the Tutsis were portrayed as the scapegoats for every crisis."
"Rwanda: How the Genocide Happened." BBC News, BBC, 17 May 2011, www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-13431486.
In Kigali, the presidential guard immediately initiated a campaign of retribution. Leaders of the political opposition were murdered, and almost immediately, the slaughter of Tutsis and moderate Hutus began.
"Rwanda: How the Genocide Happened." BBC News, BBC, 17 May 2011, www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-13431486.
Peace accord was signed between Habyarimana and the RPF. It didn't do much. And then someone shot down Habyarimana's plane in April 1994
"Rwanda: How the Genocide Happened." BBC News, BBC, 17 May 2011, www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-13431486.
It was to wipe out the entire Tutsi population and it was carried out mainly by peasant farmers rather than specialized military force
"The Rwandan Genocide." Final Solutions: Human Nature, Capitalism and Genocide, by Sabby Sagall, Pluto Press, London, 2013, pp. 222-246. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt183p6pr.12. Accessed 14 May 2020.
Rwandan genocide of 1994 in which between 800,000 and 1 million Tutsi civilians were slaughtered by their Hutu compatriots
"The Rwandan Genocide." Final Solutions: Human Nature, Capitalism and Genocide, by Sabby Sagall, Pluto Press, London, 2013, pp. 222-246. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt183p6pr.12. Accessed 14 May 2020.
"Rwanda's colonial period, during which the ruling Belgians favored the minority Tutsis over the Hutus, exacerbated the tendency of the few to oppress the many, creating a legacy of tension that exploded into violence even before Rwanda gained its independence."
History.com Editors. "Rwandan Genocide." History.com, A&E Television Networks, 14 Oct. 2009, www.history.com/topics/africa/rwandan-genocide.
