4.3 Historical Overview of Rwanda: Socio-economic, Political and Religious Context
4.3.3 The Postcolonial Period (1962-1994)
the leader of PARMEHUTU (1994:28). 40 On July 1, 1962 the Belgian trusteeship was terminated by the UN General Assembly and full independence was granted to Rwanda and Burundi (The Government of Rwanda (2006) and the Rwanda gate way [2005]).
[2005]), Habyarimana was confirmed as president in 1978, and he was re-elected in 1983, and in 1988. In 1978 a new constitution was introduced to permit limited suffrage and judicial reforms.
However, pressing concerns such as relations with Uganda continued to threaten the stability and viability of the state. The borders were frequently closed and this resulted in economic instability due to the fact that Rwanda is landlocked (Dorsey 1994:27-28), Further, in 1992 Kenya imposed a 20% tariff on all goods to Rwanda through its port at Mombasa in retaliation for the Rwandan policy of charging Kenya 60% on Kenyan goods coming to Rwanda. This affected the Rwandan economy in the 1990s and forced the country to appeal to the international community for assistance. During this time Habyarimana also faced public pressure for political reform to which he responded with an announcement of a multi-party democracy in July 1990, despite citizens' disagreement (Melson 2003:332, The Government of Rwanda (2006) and the Rwanda gate way [2005]).
On October 1, 1990 Rwanda was invaded by the troops of the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), made up of about 7,000 exiles, from their base in Uganda led by a Tutsi, Major Fred Rwigema, who was later assassinated by his own confederates (The Government of Rwanda (2006) and the Rwanda gate way (2005) and Dorsey 1994:31). Major General Paul Kagame assumed the command of the RPF. The motive for their invasion was to fight the failure of Habyarimana's government to democratize the country and resolve the problems of some 500,000 Tutsi refugees living around the world.
In one year, 1991, more than twelve political parties were formed, the 1978 constitution was changed and many new newspapers were started. "As new political parties emerged, new journals with an extremely critical voice entered the political fray and not without consequences" (Dorsey 1994:32). This in my opinion was the start of political, socio- economic and religious emancipation. However, even if there were negotiations between the political parties and the opposition, "The country continued to be plagued by ethnic and inter-party political violence and conflict between Rwandan Forces and the RPF from
mid-May to the end of the year" (1994:34). Conflict with Uganda grew; war with the RPF increased the instability among the population which reduced agricultural production. Political rallies and demonstrations against the government often resulted in violence and the Protestant church and Seventh Day Adventists joined the opposition in calling on the RPF and the refugees to negotiate a settlement in the war (Dorsey
1994:34). It was only on July 31, 1992 that a cease-fire took effect in Arusha, Tanzania and in June 1992 mediation centered on the integration of the RPF into the Rwandan army and political guarantee for refugees.43
Despite various attempts by African leaders, European nations, America and the OAU to get parties to comply with the terms of the ceasefire, the war accelerated and exacerbated ethnic cleavages which precipitated many attacks against Tutsi in different regions and caused an internal refugee problem in Byumba Province (Dorsey 1994:31-32). After the signing of the peace accord between RPF and the government at Arusha, Tanzania (on April 6, 1994), the airplane carrying President Habyarimana and the President of Burundi, Cyprian Ntaryamira, was shot down as it prepared to land at Kigali airport. Both Presidents were killed when the plane crashed and more than 800,000 victims,44 mostly from the Tutsi minority, were murdered in the subsequent three month period, after being held responsible for the death of both Presidents. Between the day of the plane crash (April 1994) and the capture of the country (July 1994), the shooting of the plane led to an awakening of what had been historically hidden in the hearts of Rwandans, the
"massacre" or "genocide" in modern term, between two ethnic groups (Hutu and Tutsi). s
According to Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, the cease-fire fixed a timetable for an end to the fighting and political talks leading to a peace accord and power-sharing, and authorized a neutral military observer group under the auspices of the Organization for African Unity
(http://www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/history_of_ Rwanda, accessed on July 24, 2006)
44 Although many people do not agree on the above number, my opinion is that this is an underestimation if one considers those killed by the RPF in the country from 1990 to 1997 and considers the attack of refugees in Congo and in different refugee eamps all over the world, more especially in Burundi. Even Mamdani (1999:5) argues that no one can be certain of how many Tutsi were killed between March and July.
Nevertheless, this discussion is not the scope of this thesis. What we need to point out is that the Tutsi were killed as a group, while Hutu were killed as individuals, except in the Congo invasion where about 30,000 refugee victims were killed and in Kibeho more than 8,000 were killed en masse (Zorbas 2005:32).
45 Here we must note that the media presented a one-sided story that Hutu killed the Tutsi and the Tutsi did not kill, but according to Human Right Watch report, before and after the genocide, the RPF killed many innocent Hutu civilians in revenge as RPF soldiers sought to establish their control over the local population, they also killed civilians in numerous summary executions and in massacres (HRW, 2003).
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Due to the plane crash and RPF's rise to power, many areas of Rwanda experienced revenge killings and violence by both Hutu and Tutsi.46 This seems to explain why
"During the genocide, they were both victims and killers" (Stover and Weinstein 2004:9).
As we have seen, during the reign of the Tutsi the Hutu were oppressed and when the Hutu came to power they took revenge on the Tutsi. This resulted in ongoing conflict, mistrust, hatred, and enmity.
During this period of the tragedy, many people lost their lives, became refugees and experienced trauma through the murders. Entire families were hunted down, women raped, children and babies stabbed to death. Parents saw their children killed and children their parents. Neighbours were forced to kill neighbours, relatives their kin. People with academic training were especially targeted. Church buildings seem to have been favoured centres for mass slaughter.