Ethnic Tensions In Rwanda

The Rwandan genocide was an appalling and an atrocious event in which over eight hundred thousand people were killed. Long held ethnic tensions and the shortage of land combined to create a perfect storm of circumstances resulting in a genocide. As a way to assess the damage done after the genocide, we, as a class, conducted a mock-negotiation over land disputes in a small Rwandan village. The origins of the ethnic tensions in Rwanda can be traced back to the age of European imperialism in the late 1800s and early 1900s. First Germans and then the Belgians took colonial power in Rwanda. Prior to the colonization, “The majority Hutu, ruling Tutsi and smaller Twa minority intermarried and shared the same language, religion, and culture,” ("Brief

Paul Kagame, leader of the RPF, established himself as Rwanda’s most capable leader. He eventually became President of Rwanda in 2000, when he “ultimately established a unity government led by the Tutsi RPF political party,” (Florance). Today, Rwanda has made great progress under Kagame’s leadership. “Rwanda is now the safest, cleanest country in Africa, with no slums and virtually no begging or street crime. It has one of highest sustained rates of economic growth on the continent,” (Grant). Furthermore, “the death penalty has been abolished, and English adopted as the official language. There is a national health system, 19 out of 20 children are now in school,” (Grant). This is incredible progress for a country recovering from a genocide just a short time ago. But, the ethnic divisions do still appear in Rwanda today. Kagame’s government is mostly Tutsi, and the majority of Rwanda’s upper-class is Tutsi. Kagame leads Rwanda with a strong hand, allowing almost no negative press or opposing political views. He has created “divisionism”, a new law that prohibits anyone from encouraging ethnic separation (Grant). Overall, the genocide and its causes remain with the Rwandan people today. Ethnic identification and separation does not disappear overnight, and there are still issues with distributing land as demonstrated by our negations; but Rwandans are currently moving forward without ignoring or hiding from

People’s views, desires, and needs were very different and at sometimes completely opposite from someone else’s. As I stated earlier, it was difficult for my role to get a voice in the negotiation; but once the first claims were made, I seized an opportunity to propose a possible solution. Although the other groups were hostile to my intentions, once I suggested a possible compromise the other members took it up and finalized the details. I was surprised by how quickly and how much easier the negotiation was once a possible compromise was on the table. Therefore, I found the negotiation on the smaller details easier than I had