RWANDA, HUTUS VS TUTSIS
YEARS: 1990-1994 | DEATHS: 800000
On April 6, 1994, the airplane carrying President Habyarimana and the President of Burundi was shot down as it prepared to land at Kigali. Both presidents were killed when the plane crashed. As though the shooting down was a signal, military and militia groups began rounding up and killing all Tutsis they could capture as well as political moderates irrespective of their ethnic backgrounds. Large numbers of opposition politicians were also murdered. Many nations evacuated all their nationals from Kigali and closed their embassies as violence escalated.
The prime minister and her 10 Belgian bodyguards were among the first victims. The killing swiftly spread from Kigali to all corners of the country; between April 6 and the beginning of July, a genocide of unprecedented swiftness left up to 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus dead at the hands of organized bands of militia: Interahamwe. Even ordinary citizens were called on by local officials and government-sponsored radio to kill their neighbors. The president’s MRND Party was implicated in organizing many aspects of the genocide. Source: Wikipedia
OTHER ONLINE RESOURCES:
Rwandan Genocide Project at Yale University
International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda
Remember Rwanda at Visiontv.ca
Preventgenocide.org Rwanda resources page
SOURCE(S):
Wikipedia, published under the GNU FDL
Uppsala University Conflict Database