By Ardain Isma
CSMS Magazine
Twenty years ago, the world witnessed one of the most hideous crimes of the 20th century. Nearly one million Tutsi were slaughtered in the name of ethnic cleansing. The Hutu government supported by France went on a killing spree as the French government remained idle while the whole world helplessly watched. For centuries, the communities lived side by side and intermarried until colonialists Belgians moved and spearheaded an all-too-familiar divided and conquered, favoring Tutsi because they perceived to be better looking black—tall and slender with an East African look.
The French moved in and empowered the other side, the Hutu, financing and arming them against the minority Tutsi which makes up only 15% of the population. Almost the entire Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), led by Paul Kagame now president, was made up of Tutsi born in refugee camp in Uganda. The RPF was the armed movement that went on to ultimately put an end to the slaughtering.
For 100 days, Rwanda was hell on earth, and the carnage did not stop only and only when the RPF overran the fascist government in Kigali, the capital of Rwanda. Just this week, Kagame accused Paris as the undeniable accomplice to the genocide. Of course, the French government denied it.
The genocide was the subject of many documentaries and movies, most noticeably was Sometimes in April directed by Haitian famed movie producer, Raoul Peck.
