Background

Rwanda is a small country in central Africa, slightly smaller than the state of Maryland. Before colonial rule, the country had been a kingdom in which the two main ethnic groups, Hutu (about 85% of population) and Tutsi (about 14%), lived together in often complex relationships. Tutsis were traditionally cattle-herding pastoralists, Hutus farmers, but the distinctions were fluid: individuals could move from one category to another based on wealth and circumstance.

German and then Belgian colonial rule (Belgium took over after WWI) hardened these distinctions. Belgian colonial administrators classified every Rwandan as Hutu or Tutsi, issued identity cards documenting the category, and used Tutsis as intermediaries to rule the larger Hutu population. The Belgians applied pseudo-scientific racial categorization, treating Tutsis as a quasi-European elite and Hutus as a racially inferior majority. These colonial choices created the ethnic divide that would later produce genocide.

In the late 1950s, as decolonization approached, Belgium reversed course and favored the Hutu majority. The 1959 Hutu revolution overthrew the Tutsi-dominated monarchy. Tens of thousands of Tutsis fled to neighboring countries. Rwanda became independent in 1962 under Hutu rule. Periodic massacres of Tutsis occurred over the following decades.