At that time, I was not paying much attention to their reactions. Exactly, and it really affected me. Every survivor will tell you how horrible it was. The announcements over the radio were becoming increasingly alarming; it was really scary to hear how Tutsis were being killed in some areas of Rwanda.
We were told we would be killed. It became risky staying at home as people were being killed in their own homes and in the streets. So my family and I, as many other Tutsi families, were forced to run away from home and hide. I still remember how scared my parents were, but as children, my siblings and I thought the mayhem would stop soon but that was not the case. We spent three months hiding in many different places and during this period many of my family members were murdered — including my father, my three brothers, my grandparents, my uncles, and many friends.
My father was the first person to be killed, followed by my brothers. So my mother, my sisters and I kept hiding without knowing whether we were going to survive or not. I also remember hearing the people who took my father talking about how happy they were to have killed him. It was one of the worst times in my life. I wished they had killed me too. We survived but we were crashed emotionally and psychologically, especially my mother.
So we just kept praying and hiding, without knowing whether we would survive or not. The killers were also raping and torturing women. This upset the Hutu. When Rwanda struggled for independence from Belgium, the Belgians switched the status of the two groups. Facing a revolution instigated by the Hutu, the Belgians let the Hutus, who constituted the majority of Rwanda's population, be in charge of the new government.
This upset the Tutsi, and the animosity between the two groups continued for decades. At p. All on board were killed in the crash. Since , President Habyarimana, a Hutu, had run a totalitarian regime in Rwanda, which had excluded all Tutsis from participating. That changed on August 3, , when Habyarimana signed the Arusha Accords, which weakened the Hutu hold on Rwanda and allowed Tutsis to participate in the government, which greatly upset Hutu extremists.
Although it has never been determined who was truly responsible for the assassination, Hutu extremists profited the most from Habyarimana's death. Within 24 hours after the crash, Hutu extremists had taken over the government, blamed the Tutsis for the assassination, and begun the slaughter. The killings began in Rwanda's capital city of Kigali.
The Interahamwe "those who strike as one" , an anti-Tutsi youth organization established by Hutu extremists, set up roadblocks. They checked identification cards and killed all who were Tutsi. Most of the killing was done with machetes, clubs, or knives. Over the next few days and weeks, roadblocks were set up around Rwanda. On April 7, Hutu extremists began purging the government of their political opponents, which meant both Tutsis and Hutu moderates were killed.
This included the prime minister. When ten Belgian U. This caused Belgium to start withdrawing its troops from Rwanda. Over the next several days and weeks, the violence spread. Since the government had the names and addresses of nearly all Tutsis living in Rwanda remember, each Rwandan had an identity card that labeled them Tutsi, Hutu, or Twa , the killers could go door to door, slaughtering the Tutsis.
Men, women, and children were murdered. Since bullets were expensive, most Tutsis were killed by hand weapons, often machetes or clubs. Many were often tortured before being killed. Some of the victims were given the option of paying for a bullet so that they'd have a quicker death. Also during the violence, thousands of Tutsi women were raped. When the Belgian colonists arrived in , they produced identity cards classifying people according to their ethnicity.
The Belgians considered the Tutsis to be superior to the Hutus. Not surprisingly, the Tutsis welcomed this idea, and for the next 20 years they enjoyed better jobs and educational opportunities than their neighbours. Resentment among the Hutus gradually built up, culminating in a series of riots in More than 20, Tutsis were killed, and many more fled to the neighbouring countries of Burundi, Tanzania and Uganda.
When Belgium relinquished power and granted Rwanda independence in , the Hutus took their place. Over subsequent decades, the Tutsis were portrayed as the scapegoats for every crisis. This was still the case in the years before the genocide. The economic situation worsened and the incumbent president, Juvenal Habyarimana, began losing popularity. Their aim was to overthrow Habyarimana and secure their right to return to their homeland. Habyarimana chose to exploit this threat as a way to bring dissident Hutus back to his side, and Tutsis inside Rwanda were accused of being RPF collaborators.
In August , after several attacks and months of negotiation, a peace accord was signed between Habyarimana and the RPF, but it did little to stop the continued unrest. When Habyarimana's plane was shot down at the beginning of April , it was the final nail in the coffin. Exactly who killed the president - and with him the president of Burundi and many chief members of staff - has not been established. All surviving Tutsi politicians in Rwanda are executed.
This significantly affects Rwanda's economy because coffee is one of its major cash crops. August 3, The Arusha Accords are agreed upon, opening government positions to both Hutu and Tutsi. This is the official beginning of the Rwandan Genocide. April 7, Hutu extremists begin killing their political opponents, including the prime minister.
Since the killers were clearly targeting only Tutsi, the Gikondo massacre was the first clear sign that a genocide was occurring. April , Massacre at the Nyarubuye Roman Catholic Church - thousands of Tutsi are killed, first by grenades and guns and then by machetes and clubs.
April 18, The Kibuye Massacres. An estimated 12, Tutsis are killed after sheltering at the Gatwaro stadium in Gitesi. Another 50, are killed in the hills of Bisesero. More are killed in the town's hospital and church.
April Approximately , people, mostly Tutsi, flee to neighboring Tanzania. May 23, The RPF takes control of the presidential palace. July 5, The French establish a safe zone in the southwest corner of Rwanda.
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