Rwanda genocide how many died

A total of 93 people were indicted and after lengthy and expensive trials, dozens of senior officials in the former regime were convicted of genocide - all of them Hutus.

Within Rwanda, community courts, known as gacaca, were created to speed up the prosecution of hundreds of thousands of genocide suspects awaiting trial. Correspondents say up to 10, people died in prison before they could be brought to justice. For a decade until , 12, gacaca courts met once a week in villages across the country , often outdoors in a marketplace or under a tree, trying more than 1. Their aim was to achieve truth, justice and reconciliation among Rwandans as "gacaca" means to sit down and discuss an issue.

President Kagame has been hailed for transforming the tiny, devastated country he took over through policies which encouraged rapid economic growth.

He has also tried to turn Rwanda into a technological hub and is very active on Twitter. But his critics say he does not tolerate dissent and several opponents have met unexplained deaths, both in the country and abroad. The genocide is obviously still a hugely sensitive issue in Rwanda, and it is illegal to talk about ethnicity. The government says this is to prevent hate speech and more bloodshed but some say it prevents true reconciliation.

Charges of stirring up ethnic hatred have been levelled against some of Mr Kagame's critics, which they say is a way of sidelining them. He won a third term in office in the most recent election in with All photographs belong to the copyright holders as marked. A good man in Rwanda. The photographs that reunited families. Africa Today podcasts. News in Kinyarwanda. Image source, AFP.

How did the genocide start? This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Between April and July , an estimated , Rwandans were killed in the space of days. Rwanda's mystery that won't go away. How was the genocide carried out? Why was it so vicious? Did anyone try to stop it? French forces in Rwanda were accused of not doing enough to stop the killing. Communities elected judges to hear the trials of genocide suspects accused of all crimes except planning of genocide or rape.

The defendants in Gacaca courts have been released provisionally awaiting trial. The releases have caused a lot of unhappiness among survivors who see it as a form of amnesty. Rwanda continues to use the national court system to try those involved in planning genocide or rape under normal penal law.

These courts do not offer provisional release for genocide defendants. The Gacaca courts give lower sentences if the person is repentant and seeks reconciliation with the community. These courts are intended to help the community participate in the process of justice and reconciliation for the country.

At the international level, the Security Council on 8 November set up the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda ICTR to "prosecute persons responsible for genocide and other serious violations of international humanitarian law committed in the territory of Rwanda and neighbouring States, between 1 January and 31 December The Tribunal indicted 93 individuals whom it considered responsible for serious violations of international humanitarian law committed in Rwanda in Those indicted included high-ranking military and government officials, politicians, businessmen, as well as religious, militia, and media leaders.

The court convicted the Prime Minister during the genocide Jean Kambanda, to life in prison. Prior to the Colonial Era.

Ethnic Conflict Begins The former colonial power, Germany, lost possession of Rwanda during the First World War and the territory was then placed under Belgian administration. November In November , a violent incident sparked a Hutu uprising in which hundreds of Tutsi were killed and thousands displaced and forced to flee to neighboring countries.

Rwanda Gains Independence - By , when Rwanda gained independence, , people, primarily Tutsis, had taken refuge in neighboring states to escape the violence which had accompanied the gradual coming into power of the Hutu community. August In August , through the peacemaking efforts of the Organisation of African Unity OAU and the governments in the region, the signing of the Arusha peace agreements appeared to have brought an end to the conflict between the then Hutu dominated government and the opposition Rwandan Patriotic Front RPF.

Genocide — 6 April more than one million people are estimated to have perished and an estimated , to , women were also raped. Aftermath of the Genocide.

Genocide Trials The Rwandan government began the long-awaited genocide trials at the end of By , there were over , genocide suspects awaiting trial. The terms enabled Rwanda to transition to a government in which Hutus and Tutsis would share power. The agreement angered Hutu extremists. In response, they armed Hutu paramilitary forces and waged a vicious propaganda campaign against the Tutsis.

On the evening of April 6, , President Habyarimana was killed. A surface-to-air missile shot down his plane as it was landing in Kigali, the Rwandan capital. Who fired the missile remains in dispute. They also targeted moderate Hutu leaders who might have opposed this program of genocide. Political and other high profile leaders who might have been able to prevent the genocide were killed immediately. Violence spread through the capital and into the rest of the country.

The genocide continued for roughly three months. As the level of violence escalated, groups of Tutsis fled to places that in previous times of turmoil had provided safety: churches, schools, and government buildings. Many of these refuges became the sites of major massacres. The Rwandan military and Hutu paramilitary forces carried out the massacres using guns and explosives. In addition to mass killings, thousands and thousands of Tutsis and people suspected of being Tutsis were killed in their homes and fields and on the road.

Militias set up roadblocks across the country to prevent the victims from escaping. In cities, towns, and even the tiniest villages, Hutus answered the call of their local leaders to murder their Tutsi neighbors.

Entire families were killed at a time, often hacked to death with machetes. Women were systematically and brutally raped. Hundreds of thousands of Rwandan Hutus participated in the genocide. As many as one million people, mostly Tutsis, were slaughtered in days. The RPF overthrew the Hutu government and seized power. More than one million Hutus, including many of the genocidaires, fled to neighboring countries. More than five million people have died in the violence. Its mission was to bring to justice those accused of high level crimes.