Kigali's Most Vibrant Area | I Didn't Expect This Venturing Alone! | East Africa: Episode 7

Germans until WWI, then Belgium took over and colonized until 1962
Colonialism exacerbated clan identity into racial identity with ID cards - creating divisions when they didn’t exist
Divisions even before the actual genocide. Thousands of Tutsis killed in various episodes during the mid-20th century. After independence, the state was run by a centralized and repressive single party demonizing Tutsis.
700000 Tutsis were exiled during this period of ethnic cleansing encouraged by the Belgians. However in 1990, Tutsis invaded Rwanda as part of the Rwandan Patriotic Front. This gave birth to civil war.
The single state used its propaganda arms to convince the majority Hutus to see their compatriots, neighbors, family friends as the enemy. Laws were codified to almost exclusively disenfranchise Tutsis
At the same time, the French were supplying the extremist regime with a $12m arms deal. Persecution against Tutsis and moderate Hutus intensified.
Then in April 6 1994, a plane carrying regime president Habyrimana was shot down near Kigali. At the same time, the regime was plotting its own extermination plan to kill up to 1000 people every 20 minutes. Within the hour, raids commenced as death lists had been prepared in advance.
Overnight, the pieces were in place and people turned on each other to initiate a brutal process of killing and rape and torture.
Hutu and Tutsi women were even forced to kill their own Tutsi children. Children were forced to kill their schoolmates and friends.
Between half a million and a million were killed -- with others left tortured, injured, starving and suffering mental trauma.
The world watched on until the RPF claimed victory in July. No peacekeepers, no intervention.
At this point, millions were internally displaced as victims moved to liberated areas and perpetrators fled to border areas in fear of revenge killings.
Jumping to modern day, efforts are made to reintegrate ex-combatants from places like DRC and land and services are extended to refugees repatriated from neighboring countries.