Genocide in Rwanda
History 300 / November 19, 2013
I. Contexts
A. The colonial context
1. “Hutu” and “Tutsi”:
imagined & manipulated categories
2. Interplay between Rwanda and Burundi
B. Decolonized Rwanda: a political revolution
1. Tutsis as refugees
2. Economic and demographic pressures
3. The civil war of the early 1990s
C. The Arusha Accords (Aug. 1993)
1. A coalition government mandated
2. Another understaffed UN mission: UNAMIR
II. The mechanics of mass slaughter
A. State-sponsored Hutu militias
B. The president assassinated (April 6, 1994)
C. Instructions delivered via the radio
1. Bloodletting at the top
2. Village-by-village executions
III. The international response
A. The narrowness of UN protection
B. “Genocide” – the power of a label
C. Ex-post-facto action – the Arusha Trials