1
00:00:00,120 --> 00:00:04,359
Speaker 1: Content warning. Today's episode is about genocide and it contains

2
00:00:04,400 --> 00:00:09,720
Speaker 1: mention of murder and rape. Hi again, Welcome to this

3
00:00:09,800 --> 00:00:13,240
Speaker 1: day in History class where history waits for no One.

4
00:00:14,280 --> 00:00:25,840
Speaker 1: Today is April seventh, nineteen. The day was April seventh.

5
00:00:28,840 --> 00:00:32,000
Speaker 1: The Rwandan armed forces and Hutu militia groups called the

6
00:00:32,040 --> 00:00:36,159
Speaker 1: Interra Homway and the Imposa Mugambi set up rope blocks

7
00:00:36,240 --> 00:00:39,320
Speaker 1: and went around to houses, killing tooth Sees and moderate

8
00:00:39,360 --> 00:00:44,080
Speaker 1: Hutu politicians. The Hutus were the ethnic majority in Rwanda

9
00:00:44,479 --> 00:00:48,400
Speaker 1: and the tooth Seeds where the ethnic minority. Tensions between

10
00:00:48,400 --> 00:00:51,440
Speaker 1: the ethnic groups have been brewing for decades after they

11
00:00:51,440 --> 00:00:55,920
Speaker 1: were stirred by Belgian rule during Rwanda's colonial period. That

12
00:00:56,080 --> 00:00:58,920
Speaker 1: conflict came to a head in April nineteen ninety four,

13
00:00:59,480 --> 00:01:02,480
Speaker 1: when the Wandan military responded to the killing of the

14
00:01:02,520 --> 00:01:08,240
Speaker 1: Rewandan and Burundi presidents with months of brutal murder. The

15
00:01:08,280 --> 00:01:13,040
Speaker 1: genocide would last one hundred days into July. Somewhere around

16
00:01:13,120 --> 00:01:17,360
Speaker 1: eight hundred thousand Rwandans were killed and millions more were displaced.

17
00:01:18,760 --> 00:01:21,640
Speaker 1: Hostilities between the Hutus and the two seas go back

18
00:01:21,760 --> 00:01:26,559
Speaker 1: decades before the Rwandan genocide. During the First World War,

19
00:01:26,920 --> 00:01:30,800
Speaker 1: Germany lost possession of Rwanda Urundi as the colony was known.

20
00:01:31,680 --> 00:01:36,640
Speaker 1: Rewanda Urundi then became a protectorate governed by Belgium. During

21
00:01:36,640 --> 00:01:40,160
Speaker 1: this colonial era, the Germans and the Belgians disrupted the

22
00:01:40,160 --> 00:01:43,520
Speaker 1: traditional relationship between the Hutus and the two Seas, which

23
00:01:43,560 --> 00:01:47,160
Speaker 1: allowed social mobility between the higher status tooth Sees and

24
00:01:47,319 --> 00:01:51,919
Speaker 1: the lower status Hutus. The Belgians began issuing identity cards

25
00:01:51,920 --> 00:01:55,640
Speaker 1: to people, labeling them by their ethnic group, and the

26
00:01:55,640 --> 00:01:58,680
Speaker 1: Belgians treated the two Seats like their favorite child, giving

27
00:01:58,720 --> 00:02:02,000
Speaker 1: them access to Western our education and using them to

28
00:02:02,120 --> 00:02:06,360
Speaker 1: enforce Belgian rule. But by the late nineteen fifties, the

29
00:02:06,520 --> 00:02:10,480
Speaker 1: Utu political movement had gained ground. The Party for the

30
00:02:10,480 --> 00:02:13,960
Speaker 1: Emancipation of the Hutus formed, and the Hutus put out

31
00:02:13,960 --> 00:02:18,919
Speaker 1: a manifesto calling for more representation considering their majority status.

32
00:02:20,240 --> 00:02:23,840
Speaker 1: In November nineteen fifty nine, the Hutus rebelled against the

33
00:02:23,880 --> 00:02:28,520
Speaker 1: Belgians and Tootsies, killing hundreds and causing thousands to flee

34
00:02:28,600 --> 00:02:33,240
Speaker 1: to nearby countries. Over the next few years, the Tootsies

35
00:02:33,320 --> 00:02:37,440
Speaker 1: lost power, while the Hutus gained it. Intentions as well

36
00:02:37,480 --> 00:02:42,640
Speaker 1: as ethnic violence increased. By the time Rwanda separated from

37
00:02:42,680 --> 00:02:46,720
Speaker 1: Burundi and gained its independence from Belgium in nineteen sixty two,

38
00:02:47,240 --> 00:02:50,960
Speaker 1: hundreds of thousands of Twotsies have fled to escape the

39
00:02:51,000 --> 00:02:55,200
Speaker 1: ethnic conflict. With this newly instated Hutu president and the

40
00:02:55,280 --> 00:02:59,960
Speaker 1: Jutu government, the violence against Twosies escalated. On the other

41
00:03:00,000 --> 00:03:03,400
Speaker 1: her hand, Tootsie refugees began to target and attack the

42
00:03:03,480 --> 00:03:09,000
Speaker 1: Hutu government and sadly, that cycle continued with twoth Sees

43
00:03:09,040 --> 00:03:14,280
Speaker 1: attacking Hutus to regain power, Hutus attacking and retaliation for

44
00:03:14,360 --> 00:03:18,760
Speaker 1: the tooth Sees retaliatory violence, and more refugees leaving the

45
00:03:18,760 --> 00:03:22,600
Speaker 1: country for places like Burundi, Zaire which is now the

46
00:03:22,639 --> 00:03:28,160
Speaker 1: Democratic Republic of the Congo, Tanzania, and Uganda. In the

47
00:03:28,240 --> 00:03:33,360
Speaker 1: late nineteen eighties, the Rewandan Patriotic Front are RPF formed.

48
00:03:34,080 --> 00:03:37,360
Speaker 1: It was made of mostly Toothsi refugees, but it did

49
00:03:37,400 --> 00:03:42,880
Speaker 1: include some Hutus. In nineteen ninety, after the RPF invaded

50
00:03:42,960 --> 00:03:47,880
Speaker 1: Rewanda from Uganda, a civil war broke out. The Rwandan

51
00:03:48,040 --> 00:03:53,840
Speaker 1: army was training civilian militias. Hutu President Juvenal haby A

52
00:03:53,960 --> 00:03:58,320
Speaker 1: Rimana and the RPF president signed a power sharing accord

53
00:03:58,680 --> 00:04:01,400
Speaker 1: and the United Nations was sent to Rwanda to monitor

54
00:04:01,440 --> 00:04:05,880
Speaker 1: the peace agreement. But things weren't getting better. The president

55
00:04:05,960 --> 00:04:09,360
Speaker 1: stalled on creating a power sharing government and officials efforts

56
00:04:09,400 --> 00:04:12,920
Speaker 1: for peace were subverted by Hutu extremists bent on killing

57
00:04:12,920 --> 00:04:17,920
Speaker 1: Twotsies and moderate Hutus. By nine four, there were more

58
00:04:17,920 --> 00:04:21,400
Speaker 1: than seven million people in Rwanda, which broken down into

59
00:04:21,480 --> 00:04:25,520
Speaker 1: ethnic groups, was about eighty five percent Hutu, fourteen percent

60
00:04:25,600 --> 00:04:29,520
Speaker 1: Tootsie and one percent Ta. The Toi are Pygmy people.

61
00:04:30,720 --> 00:04:36,160
Speaker 1: On April six, a plane carrying President Habiar Rimana, seven

62
00:04:36,200 --> 00:04:39,440
Speaker 1: staffers and three crew members was shot down near the

63
00:04:39,520 --> 00:04:44,280
Speaker 1: Keigali airport. It's not clear who shot down the plane.

64
00:04:44,680 --> 00:04:47,680
Speaker 1: Some people say leaders of the Rwandan Patriotic Front are

65
00:04:47,760 --> 00:04:52,800
Speaker 1: to blame, while others say who to extremists were responsible. Regardless,

66
00:04:52,920 --> 00:04:56,000
Speaker 1: this attack set off the genocide of Tootsies and moderate

67
00:04:56,080 --> 00:05:01,080
Speaker 1: Hutus that began. The next day. Radio broadcast lasted propaganda

68
00:05:01,160 --> 00:05:04,279
Speaker 1: against the tut Sees. The Prime Minister and ten of

69
00:05:04,279 --> 00:05:09,120
Speaker 1: her peacekeepers were murdered. Belgian troops were withdrawn soon after

70
00:05:09,160 --> 00:05:13,240
Speaker 1: the massacre. Hundreds of thousands of women were raped and

71
00:05:13,360 --> 00:05:17,520
Speaker 1: hundreds of thousands were murdered and May the RPF took

72
00:05:17,560 --> 00:05:21,040
Speaker 1: over the presidential palace and the genocide ended in July

73
00:05:21,480 --> 00:05:25,919
Speaker 1: when the RPF gained control of the country. The First

74
00:05:25,960 --> 00:05:29,360
Speaker 1: and Second Congo Wars developed in the aftermath of the genocide.

75
00:05:30,200 --> 00:05:34,240
Speaker 1: Trials for genocide suspects began in nineteen and a local

76
00:05:34,240 --> 00:05:37,279
Speaker 1: court system was established to address the backlog of cases.

77
00:05:38,480 --> 00:05:42,000
Speaker 1: The court system was eventually closed after issues with this

78
00:05:42,160 --> 00:05:47,720
Speaker 1: operation were raised, and the U N Peacekeepers, us UK, Belgium,

79
00:05:47,800 --> 00:05:50,720
Speaker 1: France and the rest of the international community have been

80
00:05:50,760 --> 00:05:55,160
Speaker 1: accused of not doing enough to stop the genocide. There

81
00:05:55,160 --> 00:05:58,760
Speaker 1: are hundreds of thousands of survivors and many organizations have

82
00:05:58,880 --> 00:06:03,320
Speaker 1: formed to support them. The United Nations named April seven

83
00:06:03,600 --> 00:06:09,560
Speaker 1: the International Day of Reflection on the Rwanda Genocide. I'm

84
00:06:09,560 --> 00:06:12,040
Speaker 1: Eaves Jeff Coote and hopefully you know a little more

85
00:06:12,040 --> 00:06:16,680
Speaker 1: about history today than you did yesterday. We love it

86
00:06:16,720 --> 00:06:20,560
Speaker 1: if you left us a comment on Twitter, Instagram or Facebook.

87
00:06:20,960 --> 00:06:27,240
Speaker 1: At t d I h C podcast, thanks for showing up.

88
00:06:27,880 --> 00:06:43,799
Speaker 1: We'll meet here again tomorrow. This Day in History Class

89
00:06:43,839 --> 00:06:46,400
Speaker 1: is a production of I Heart Radio. For more podcasts

90
00:06:46,440 --> 00:06:49,360
Speaker 1: from I Heart radio, visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple podcasts,

91
00:06:49,440 --> 00:06:51,120
Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.