Today starts the 100 days of commemorating those who lost their lives during the Rwanda Genocide that started on 7th April until the 15th of July 1994.
Former U.S. President, Bill Clinton, African Union Commission chairman Moussa Faki Mahamat, Tanzania’s President Samia Suluhu Hassan, Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir among other dignitaries are in Rwanda to commemorate the 1994 Genocide at the Kigali Genocide Memorial Center in Kigali, Rwanda April 7, 2024.
The ceremony rituals began with the laying of wreaths by their Excellencies followed by the lighting of the flame which will burn for the next 100 days.
In this event, Uganda is represented by our Vice President H.E Jessica Aluupo and other heads of states present were; H.E Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa, H.E Petr Pavel of Czech Republic, H.E. Mohamed Ould Ghazouani of Maurita, H.E Abiy Ahmed Ali of Ethopia, H.E Samia Suluhu Hassan of Tanzania, H.E Bill Clinton the former President of the United States, among others.
The 1994 genocide was against the Tutsi and research shows that between April 7th and July 4th 1994, over one Million Rwandans were killed and a total of one million and seventy four thousand or more people were killed in the entire 100 days of the genocide.
The Tutis, a minority ethnic group in Rwanda were killed most during this genocide, though other few people from the Twa and some Hutus also were killed by the Hutu militias that were supported and headed by some government and army officials of Rwanda who were of the Hutu ethnic.
In his speech, his H.E Paul said “Rwandans cannot afford to be indifferent to the root causes of Genocide. We will always pay close attention even if we are all alone.” He also emphasised the role of young people in building and uniting all the people of Rwanda.
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It has been three decades since the April 1994 Rwandan genocide when members of the majority Hutu ethnic group killed an estimated 800,000 minority Tutsis, moderate Hutus and members of a third ethnic group, the Twa, in one of the darkest episodes in world history.
A combination of colonial-era favouritism towards the Tutsis that angered other groups, a media landscape that was ripe for spreading hate and the slowness of the international community to respond to the crisis all combined to fuel the genocide.
What caused the genocide?
Tensions were already brewing between Hutus and Tutsis before April 1994. The Tutsis, who made up 8.4 percent of the population according to a 1991 census, were believed to be genealogically closer to white Europeans under now-debunked scientific theories and were favoured under Belgian colonialism.
The Hutus made up 85 percent of the population, but they could not in practice access education and economic opportunities that the ruling Tutsis could.
“What’s commonly understood from historians is that the Belgians used the Tutsis as proxies in ruling the country, and that’s why they became privileged,” said Lennart Wohlgemuth, a researcher and former professor at Sweden’s University of Gothenburg.
Being identified as Tutsi or Hutu before colonialism was “fluid” and based significantly on class with wealthy Hutus able to attain an honorary Tutsi title. “It was really based on how many cows you had, [but] the Belgians built up differences between the two and manipulated it. The Tutsis were better off already, and they, of course, used their privilege to improve their lives,” Wohlgemuth said.
