"a genocide begins with the killing of one man. not for what he has done, but because of who he is."
- kofi annan
The spark of the genocide was the assassination of the Rwandan president. Juvenal Habyarimana’s (Hutu) plane was shot down above Kigali, the capital on Rwanda in 1994. The Hutus blamed the RPF for the incident, but later the RPF stated that the plane was shot down by the Hutus in an attempt to excuse the genocide. Government action soon took place and they began sending out militias to kill all Tutsis on sight, including all of their families. Neighbors killed neighbors, and husbands were threatened their life if they didn’t kill their Tutsi wives. This strategy used by the government, was to prevent the Tutsis of ever having the slightest chance to come to power once again.
Some Hutus had made the decision to kill Tutsis on their own, and there were also some whose lives were threatened by the government if they didn’t follow orders through.
Did the U.S Make an Attempt to Help Out?
The U.S. chose not to intervene in the genocide because they claimed that Rwanda was not an oil rich country. They felt like they could not gain anything from it, so there was no reason to try and help them. Prior to the genocide in 1991, war broke out in Somalia. The UN sent a peace keeping mission to Somalia to ensure that proper care and aid was delivered to the suffering people. Their mandate was soon increased to cover civil governance
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