Rwanda-Politics

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A Brief Political History
¹ The first people living in this nation were known as the Twa. Now they make up a very small percentage of the population, only about one percent. The Twa are very short people, however, they are not considered pygmies. The other two groups of the nation are the Hutu and the Tutsi. The Germans separated these people into two groups based on their height and how "white" they looked. The Tutsi were said to look more white and be taller. They were considered smarter and the superiors of the Hutu. This separation occurred in 1891 when the Germans colonized Rwanda and put the Tutsi in charge. ²The Tutsi also thought of themselves as superior and began to oppress the Hutu population.The Tutsi were the ruling class, however also the minority and made up 14-16% of the population. During Wold War I, many groups fought for control of the region, and the Belgians forced the Germans out of the region. The Belgians educated the Tutsi in Catholic "superior" schools. Before this harsh division, the Hutu and Tutsi were friends, but the Belgians issued identity cards and created hatred between the groups. ³The Belgians decided to change their means of politics and held secretive elections. The Hutu gained much power from these elections and the Tutsi were soon removed from complete control. The Belgians pulled out of the country and the Hutu started to exterminate the Tutsi. The rest of the world did very little to stop this atrocity and over 800,000 are said to have died. Tutsi Citizens Lay Dead In Rwanda.⁴

Hutu Soldiers⁵

1. "Case Study: Genocide in Rwanda 1994." Genercide Watch. 24 Apr. 2007 &lt;[|http://www.gendercide.org/case_rwanda.html&gt;.]&gt; 2. "Genocide in Rwanda." United Human Rights Council. 24 Apr. 2007 &lt;[|http://www.unitedhumanrights.org/Genocide/genocide_in_rwanda.htm&gt;.] 3. "Genocides." Peace Pledge Union Information. 24 Apr. 2007 &lt;[|http://www.ppu.org.uk/genocide/g_rwanda.html&gt;.] 4. More Than 3 Million Killed. Knowledge News. 25 Apr. 2007 &lt;[|http://knowledgenews.net/moxie/moxiepix/a1340.jpg&gt;.] 5. Hutu Rebels are to Be Integrated Into the Tutsi-Dominated Military. BBC News. 24 Apr. 2007 &lt; [|http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/40220000/jpg/_40220379_burundi_203_ap.jpg&gt;.]

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