AN APPRAISAL OF THIRTY YEARS AFTER THE RWANDA GENOCIDE (1994-2024): LESSONS FROM HISTORY

Abstract

April 6, 2024 marked thirty years after the crisis in Rwanda always termed genocide. It was the climax of an existing conflict and civil war that had taken place in the country, since 1990. It was an ethnic based crisis that resulted in an unprecedented massacre in the last quarter of the 20th century. The country is in East Africa and also a member of the East African community (EAC). Between 1894 - 1918 Rwanda and Burundi were administered by the Germans. After the First World War the area was administered by Belgium under the mandate system of the League of Nations. Rwanda became independent in July 1962 following a revolution that took place between the two dominant and opposing ethnic groups, the Hutu and Tutsi. This study found out that ethnic minority and majority syndrome between dominant ethnic groups actually ignited the the genocide that devastated the entire country. This research uses historical narrative approach to bring to the fore the history of the crisis, thirty years after. The study proffered lessons that multiethnic societies can learn from the genocide.