The Rwanda Crisis: History of a Genocide [Paperback]

This book has plenty of information about Rwanda and the 1994 genocide there. Yes, the book may appear anti-Hutu. But that is because so many of the Hutus were guilty of genocide. The fact that not all Tutsis have always been angels does not change that.

Rwanda is a country of a little over 10,000 square miles, with several million people. At the beginning of 1994, about ten percent of its people were Tutsis and almost all of the rest were Hutus. There were about 900,000 Tutsis. In the space of a few weeks, 800,000 of the Tutsis were brutally murdered, many of them by their neighbors, who generally used machetes to slaughter them. This was a carefully planned extermination. There was a long period of incitement. And even the word "inyenzi" (literally, "cockroaches") used by Hutu extremists to describe Tutsis started as a reference to violent armed men who tended to move at night. It was not merely a term of derision, but also one which helped produce a reaction of fear that encouraged the massacres.

The author explains that had it not been for the success of a Tutsi army in eventually (but too late) taking the capital city, the leaders of the genocide probably would have gotten away with it completely. There might have been a brief and partial UN boycott, with France discreetly violating it, followed by a restoration of international ties with the government.

The differences between Tutsis and Hutus had made a big impression on European colonialists a century earlier. The Tutsis were usually considerably taller and thinner than the Hutus. The Tutsis typically had narrower noses and lighter skins as well. Europeans had put Tutsis in control of the land in spite of the fact that the Hutus were a big majority. However, when Rwanda obtained independence, the Hutus gained control and the Tutsis were almost entirely unrepresented in the government or military leadership.

Although most of the Tutsis in Rwanda were killed, several hundred thousand Tutsis who lived outside Rwanda moved into that country when the Tutsi army gained control of it. And well over a million Hutus fled Rwanda.

Prunier makes many interesting points. One is that although many people claimed that the Tutsis were much richer than the Hutus, the average incomes of Tutsis and Hutus were about the same. Another is about the role of France in supporting the Hutus. There is a revealing quote of a French minister who was asked about this and gave a very unconvincing denial: "Me! Accuse me of having got people to train death squads! Let's be serious! In all these crises some people always find a way to attack France."

When some French troops finally showed up in the area, the Hutus applauded them in a big way. Radio announcements told Hutu girls to "wash yourselves and put on a good dress for our French allies. The Tutsi girls are all dead so you have your chance."

These sorts of things, along with some amazing official French comments about the Hutus and Tutsis killing each other, as though there were simply victims and no criminals, make it appear that France was a big part of the problem. The United Nations forces, with their instructions not to stop any of the atrocities, were worse than useless.

I learned quite a bit from this book. It is a sobering look at our species.

From an ex-Peace Corps Volunteer, Rwanda.
This book seems to have been eclipsed by Gourevitch's journalistic account. Prunier was there and writing at the time that this happened. This book is basically a compilation of his observations of the genocide in Rwanda as it was occuring. It is, perhaps, less passionate than other accounts, but that only makes it more chilling. It traces the origins of the Rwanda genocide, the horrors of preparation and execution. This is an important book.

I have read no other book that so dispassionately, logically, and compellingly (and yes, perhaps coldly) simply gives the reader the facts. Not an easy read, as sometimes I had to read the pages twice to fully grasp the meaning, but a great experience. Probably the best book I've ever read.

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