The 1994 Rwandan Genocide left in its trail consequences so difficult to easily forget.

It is already 20 years since the April 1994 Rwandan Genocide that left in its wake an estimated one million dead – most of them from the minority Tutsi ethnic nationality, while the rest were moderate Hutus from the country’s largest ethnic group.

The immediate trigger of the ethnic onslaught was the downing on April 6, 1994 of the plane of President Juvenal Habyarimana in the capital, Kigali, in which he died alongside his Burundian counterpart, Cyprien Ntaryamira. The unprecedented mass killings that ensued have left a lasting impact on Rwanda and the sub-region as a whole.

Tutsi Ascendancy

The massacres provided the tonic for the Tutsi-led Rwandan Patriotic Front, RPF that had been waging a low-level bush war against the government of President Juvenal Habyarimana to eventually take power. Tutsis, who made up only 10 per cent of the population and had held power before independence, regained control of the country. In the process, their kith who fled earlier ethnic skirmishes abroad had the opportunity to return home.

Social Dislocation, Animosity

Expectedly, the war caused great destruction to the country’s social fabric. People of basically the same culture who had lived in relative peace for long suddenly become sworn enemies. Thousands were evicted from their homes while three months (April-July 1994) of attacks left an estimated one million people dead.

After the pogrom and mass movements of people it created, the economy was left in shambles. Similarly, about 70 per cent of the Rwandan population was killed in the civil war and villages across the country totally demolished. All the farms were either burned or destroyed. Since the population decreased drastically, there were no workers to start reconstructing the country.

Property Disputes, Trauma

The war also created a problem of an unexpected kind. Exiled Tutsis who returned home after decades abroad found their property occupied by others. Similarly, Hutus who fled abroad after losing out in the genocide only returned home to discover their estates in other people’s hands. Handling these disputes was tricky. On the other hand, children who were used by both sides in the killings were traumatized; just like those who witnessed their siblings killed right before their eyes in most gruesome circumstances.

Exodus Abroad

The defeated government and army led a mass exodus of some two million Hutus into neighbouring countries in July 1994. In a refugee crisis of unprecedented scale, some 50,000 people - predominantly Hutu refugees - died of disease, hunger, and lack of water in just a few weeks in neighbouring Zaire (today the Democratic Republic of Congo, DRC).

Hundreds of thousands of others, who believed they were threatened by the RPF advance, took refuge in displaced persons camps in southwestern Rwanda in an area first protected by French troops and later by UN peacekeepers, UNAMIR.

Within months, soldiers of the defeated Rwandan Army, the ex-FAR, militias, administrators, and political leaders who directed the genocide, began regrouping in DRC. Using refugee camps as military bases in violation of international law, they began mounting incursions into Rwanda.

On the other hand, President Paul Kagame assisted his kith, the Banyamulenge or Tutsis from the high plateau of South Kivu Province in eastern DRC to overthrow an already ailing President Mobutu Sésé Sékou. Laurent-Désiré Kabila was then catapulted to power in 1997, only to be assassinated in January 2001.  

Destabilisation Of DRC

After falling out with Laurent Kabila, Rwanda, alongside other powers and rebel groups got heavily involved in two wars in the DRC that greatly destabilised the new government. Allegations of Rwandan support for various DRC militias and the pillage of Congo’s huge mineral wealth have been corroborated by several international reports.

Tainted International Image

Rwanda is today not only considered as a major source of destabilization in the Democratic Republic of Congo, but also as a government that does not tolerate dissent. Some opposition politicians have either been thrown into jail or forced to flee abroad while exiled opponents in South Africa have of recent come under repeated attacks by suspected Rwandan government agents.