FACTORS OF GENOCIDE IN RWANDA

Cause of Genocide in Rwanda

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1. Socio Political

The genocide in Africa and the colonial division strategy were used to conquer and exploit people and gain economic and political power (Mann 2005:428). In Rwanda's case, genocide was a carefully planned and executed exercise to annihilate the Tutsi and Hutu populations of Rwanda who disagreed with extreme politics. Genocide had far more complex roots here than deep ethnic hate (Keane 1995:8; Melvern 2000:11). The main reasons for this were socio-political. They have been rooted in both colonial and post-colonial leaders ' manipulation of Rwanda's history and can therefore be attributed to both internal and external factors. Western colonizers (Germany and Belgium) manipulated Rwanda's history before independence and after independence through inefficient local leadership (Turshen 2001:57) and democratic failure (Mann 2005:4). International indifference and the involvement of some accomplices in Western countries enabled genocide to take place (Barnett 2005:551).

2. Economics

Economic factors have also shaped and worsened the effects and the extent of the genocide (Utterwulghe 1999). Turshen (2001:57–58) notes that the extent of genocide was shaped by four socio-economic factors: (1) an abrupt drop in coffee prices, coupled with a 1989 devaluation of the currency and rapid inflation after 1990; (2) a structural adjustment program combined with a drought in the southern regions resulting in famine;(3) the war in the north (1990) which drained government resources and created enormous refugee camps in the north of Kigali ; and (4) the ' paradox of democratisation in Africa ' which provoked opposition to the government which had already fought.

3. Cultural

Rwanda's roots of violence are 'more complex than most people imagined,' and the terms Hutus and Tutsis refer to built categories of different socio-economic positions within Rwandan society (Jennings 2001:65). Melvern (2000:11) states that these two ethnic groups shared the same language, culture and lived with intermarried people in the same village and traded identities A pure ethnic fragmentation is a myth' (Melvern 2000:11). According to Mamdani (2001:9-20), it was the Belgian colonial state reform that established Hutus as indigenous Bantu and Tutsis as alien Hamites in the decade from the mid-1920s through the mid-1930s. He argues that this hamitic hypothesis explained every sign of civilization in tropical Africa as foreign imports. Hutu and Tutsi have become political identities linked to the roots of violence

The genocide in Rwanda wasn't just a matter of mutual hatred between tribes that erupted into irrational violence. Documentary evidence shows that the killings were planned by a clique (family and in-laws) close to President Habyarimana who resented sharing power with the Tutsis. ' Rwanda's bloodbath was not tribal, ' according to Pottier (2002:9). It was rather a distinctly modern tragedy, a minutely prepared and callously executed degenerated class conflict that the world could not see. This shows the difficulty of Rwanda's genocide and shows that if class issues (including resource access) are not adequately addressed, there is a prospect of another genocide.

4. Environmental Factors

There was also a key role played by environmental factors in shaping the genocide. Rwanda is a small country whose population rose from 1.887.000 in 1948 to over 7.5 million in 1992. Such a large population in a small area makes it one of Africa's most densely populated countries. There is no doubt that the problems of overpopulation and poverty in Rwanda are somehow at the center of growing ethnic tensions. As the population grew and subdivisions among family members increased, the amount of land available for subsistence purposes dropped dramatically, leaving many people without land and unemployed.