A brief history of the Tutsi and Hutu Conflict

About 400 years ago, the “once” nomadic Tutsi tribe moved into the area of East Africa, where the Hutu tribe has already settled 100 years before (Admin 1999). They integrated themselves with the Hutu people, adopting their culture. However, the Tutsis still continued living off of cattle herding while the Hutus were subsistent farmers. Economic differences divided the two groups living in the same community, the Tutsi dominating the Hutu. According to historian, Congolese Professor George, ‘“…the only differences between the two groups were economic rather than ethnic,”’ (Admin 1999). Colonization of Rwanda-Urundi by Belgium only allowed Tutsi’s to have power education, causing the country to split. The class-conflict caused an outbreak in genocide between the two tribes, greatly affecting the Tutsis. During the, Rwandan genocide in 1994 about 800,000 Rwandans were killed in 100 days, most were Tutsi (BBC 2011).

This picture represents class differences among the Tutsi and Hutu based on attire.

Resources:

BBC News Africa

        2011 Rwanda: How the genocide happened. BBC News, May 17. Electronic document,                                                             http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-13431486, accessed on February 24, 2014.

The Dark Corner

        2011 Saving the world one daughter at a time. The DARK corner. Electronic document,                                                             http://thedarkcorner.com/?paged=2, accessed on February 24, 2014.

Admin

        1999 The Heart of the Hutu-Tutsi Conflict. PBS News MacNeil/Lehrer Productions, October 8. Electronic                                 document, http://www.pbs.org/newshour/updates/africa-july-dec99-rwanda_10-08/, accessed on February 24,                     2014.