Rwanda 1994. Analyse d’un processus génocidaire

Abstract

The genocide of the Tutsi in Rwanda was the direct result of a now defunct process which was applied inexorably over decades. It originated in an ethnic vision of Rwandan history created by Belgian colonization and the Peres Blancs. Ignoring the history of the kingdom of Rwanda and imbued with racial prejudices, the Belgian administration designated the Tutsi as a “race of lords”, thus allowing them to rule the country through an elite.During the late 1950s’, with Rwandan independence imminent, Belgium reversed its discourse and actively supported the cause of the “Hutu majority”, thereby inaugurating the mass murder cycle of the Tutsi in 1959. Up until 1967, under the First Republic, 20.000 Tutsi were assassinated and 300.000 emigrated.In 1973, Rwanda became a one-party centralized state. If ethnic antagonism is less intense, the government denies refugees the right to return. Starting in 1990, with a background of economic and political crisis, a combination of several factors transformed ethnic discrimination into an imminent threat of genocide. These factors included the attack of the FPR on October 1st, 1990, the dissemination of hatred and fear by the media, French support and interference by the international community and finally, the October 1993 creation of Hutu Power – the organ that conceives and plans the genocide.