Timeline of Events
1300–1500
Tutsis migrate into what is now Rwanda, which was already inhabited by the Twa and Hutu peoples.
1890
Rwanda becomes part of German East Africa.
1916
Belgian forces occupy Rwanda.
1923
Belgium is granted a League of Nations mandate to govern Rwanda, which it rules indirectly through the Tutsi king and aristocracy.
1930s
The Belgians, inheriting from European Christian missionaries the classification system of Rwandans as Hutu or Tutsi, favour the Tutsi as the elite class. Unsurprisingly, this causes resentment amongst those named as Hutus, who feel they have been permanently assigned an inferior status. The Belgians introduce compulsory identity cards, stating each individual’s ethnic group.
Under Belgian rule the Tutsis enjoy greater opportunities than their Hutu neighbours in terms of access to things like housing, employment and education. Preferential treatment is used widely in colonial times as a concept of “divide and rule.” As a result, the Hutus grow increasingly resentful.
1957
Hutus issue a manifesto calling for a change in Rwanda’s power structure to give them an ironclad permanent majority, based on their demographic majority, and the Party for the Emancipation of the Hutus (PARMEHUTU) is formed.
1959
Hutus, now favoured by the Belgian colonists and the Roman Catholic Church, revolt, resulting in the first widespread Hutu-Tutsi violence of the 20th century, leaving thousands of Tutsi dead and thousands more fleeing as refugees to neighbouring countries such as Zaire (now Congo) and Uganda.
1961
Rwanda’s monarchy is abolished and the country is proclaimed a republic following its first elections, which result in a Hutu majority.
1962
Rwanda is granted independence from Belgium and PARMEHUTU leader Grégoire Kayibanda becomes President.
Under the extremist Hutu rule, and with Christian missionaries running the school system, differentiation between Hutus and Tutsis is made very clear in the classrooms and in access to all services and jobs. A series of pogroms through the 1960s kills thousands of Tutsis and causes hundreds of thousands to flee the country. Tutsis who remain are stripped of their rights and face constant discrimination. The international community does not respond.
1963
Tutsi rebels returning from exile in Burundi lead an attack on Rwanda; Hutus retaliate, resulting in about 20,000 Tutsi casualties.
1967
Renewed Tutsi massacres at the hands of Hutus in Rwanda.
1973
President Kayibanda is ousted in a military coup led by Hutu Major Juvénal Habyarimana who forms a one-party government. Mass violence against Tutsis ends but they face continued discrimination in education, employment, the military and most other aspects of society.
1986
Tutsi exiles in Uganda form the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) after years of demanding their right to return to Rwanda, which has always been refused.
1989
The plummeting global price of coffee, Rwanda’s key export, puts economic strain on the country, resulting in widespread poverty and discontent.
1990
In October, the RPF invades Rwanda from Uganda and meets opposition from the Rwandan government army, backed by France.
Seventeen years after the last wave of mass violence, intense anti-Tutsi sentiment is now renewed and enflamed, sparking a series of Tutsi massacres over the next three years. The idea that Rwanda’s problems can only be cured by the total elimination of the Tutsi population begins to gain currency among Hutu leaders in the government and the military.
This also begins the period of France’s complicity in the Rwandan government’s plans for genocide, ultimately including France’s facilitation of the genocide through their provision of military, political and diplomatic support to the Hutu government and its extremist wing.
1991
In March, though a cease-fire is declared, the Rwandan government party begins recruiting, arming and training civilian Hutu militia known as the Interahamwe.
1993
The peace agreement known as the Arusha Accords is signed between President Habyarimana’s government and the RPF. General Roméo Dallaire arrives in Kigali to command a small and poorly funded UN military mission sent to monitor the peace agreement.
In October in Burundi, Tutsi soldiers murder the first democratically elected President, a Hutu. Large massacres ensue, with thousands of angry Hutus fleeing north into Rwanda. Hutu extremists in Rwanda argue that this shows that Tutsis can never be trusted and the Hutu Power movement begins.
1994
April 6 President Habyarimana and the President of Burundi are killed when their plane is mysteriously shot down near the Kigali Airport. The mass slaughter of Tutsis and moderate Hutus begins and, over the span of a mere 100 days, between 800,000 and 1,000,000 are massacred. The majority of the clergy of all the Christian churches remain either neutral or are actively complicit in enabling the genocidaires.
April 7 Ten Belgian UN soldiers are killed by Hutu soldiers on the first morning of the genocide and Belgium decides to remove all remaining troops.
April 21 Under intense pressure from the Clinton administration, which is determined to stay out of African conflicts, the UN Security Council declares the withdrawal of all but 250 of General Dallaire’s troops – a 90% reduction from 2,500 troops.
April 30 Several weeks into the massacres, General Dallaire realizes he is witnessing a full-scale genocide. The UN Security Council refuses to call it genocide, fearing such a declaration would necessitate a UN mandate for intervention.
In May, the UN finally agrees to send 6,800 mainly African troops into Rwanda, but the mission is severely delayed while the US Government and the UN argue over who will fund the provision of tanks. A month later, with no sign of the arrival of the UN peacekeeping force, the slaughter continues and the Clinton administration forbids its spokespeople from using the word “genocide,” fearing this will result in greater pressure to respond.
July 17 The rebel RPF army pushes the genocidaires out of the country and forms a new government, ending widespread massacres.
No new troops or equipment ever reach the UN Mission. Genocide is recognized by the UN Security Council and the international community only after it is over.
1994–1996
About two million Hutus flee to refugee camps in Zaire (now Congo), which are controlled by Hutu militias.
1995
The UN-appointed International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda is established in Arusha, Tanzania, to prosecute those responsible for the genocide.
2000
RPF leader and Rwandan Vice-President Paul Kagame is elected President by ministers and members of parliament, following the forced resignation of President Pasteur Bizimungu.
2001
Rwanda’s unique citizen-based justice system known as gacaca courts is established to begin the process of post-conflict reconciliation. To commemorate the birth of a new era, a new Rwandan flag and national anthem are unveiled.
2003
President Kagame and the RPF win a majority government in Rwanda’s first multi-party parliamentary elections; according to European Union observers the elections are marred by irregularities and fraud.
2003–present
Convictions and sentencing of war criminals continue at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda.
2009
In Canada, Hutu militia leader Désiré Munyaneza is the first person to be convicted under Canada’s new Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes Act, and is sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for 25 years.
Denial of the Rwandan genocide remains widespread, even among some Canadians.
