It is unique considering the extreme cruelty with which it was executed in comparison to other atrocities like the Holocaust Genocide.
We have below outlined some of unique aspects of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi that saw people killing neighbours and relatives pitilessly:
{{Killing a large number in short timespan}}
The Ministry of National Unity and Civic Engagement (MINUBUMWE) indicates that the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi is among those committed in shortest time span taking lives of a large number of victims.
A total of 1,070,014 victims were killed during 100 days from April until July 1994 as per research conducted by the Ministry of Local Government (MINALOC) in 2002.
The figures show that nearly 10,000 Tutsis were killed every day, a number that might be equivalent to sector’s population.
As for the Holocaust Genocide, nearly 6 million Jews were killed in three years.
Figures released from MINALOC might even go up considering other remains of Genocide victims excavated from different parts of the country after the research.
{{Killing relatives }}
Killing someone is forbidden whether you have issues with them or not. However, perpetrators of the Genocide against the Tutsi turned savage that mothers would kill children or children would kill fathers on the basis of their identity.
This was among other unique aspects of Genocide against the Tutsi as some parents killed children they had sired together with Tutsi mothers of fathers.
Albert Nsengimana brought to light these circumstances through his book dubbed ‘Ma mère m’a tué’ translated as ‘My Mother Killed Me’ featuring his own testimonies of how his mother killed his siblings in collaboration with Interahamwe militiamen because they were born to a Tutsi father.
The tragedy also happened in other parts of the country where people killed intimate friends with whom their lived in the same village or had in-laws relationships.
{{Shared culture and language}}
Unlike the Holocaust Genocide where Nazi perpetrators had no relations with victims, the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi saw Rwandans killing other Rwandans with whom they lived together, spoke one language, grew together, studied at same schools and share the same culture and lifestyle.
The perpetrators and victims had no reasons for segregation apart from hatred and genocide ideology instilled among people after dividing Rwandans through Hutu and Tutsi ethnic groups.
{{Use of traditional weapons }}
During the Holocaust Genocide, some people were shot dead while others were killed by the use of chemicals gradually.
In Rwanda, the majority of victims were killed with traditional arms to inflict extreme suffering on victims.
Perpetrators used traditional weapons like big sticks, small hoes and machetes among others used to torture and kill Tutsis.
{{Extreme cruelty }}
Everyone is subjected to death under normal circumstances. It is however heart-wrenching to see a human being dying with extreme suffering particularly inflicted by another. The heartless perpetrators did inflict much pain on victims where they killed them physically and morally as they forced them to dig holes in which they had to be dumped.
In churches like Ntarama in Bugesera District, children were killed of torture as perpetrators repeatedly hit them on walls until they die. In Southern Province, there are Tutsis whose hearts were devoured by perpetrators who would also suck their blood.
In other instances, Tutsis were raped and infected with HIV/AIDS among other inhumane acts beyond one’s understanding.
{{Conspiracy at all levels }}
The 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi was executed on collaboration between authorities at all levels, churches and different organizations.
Only a few churches were not used as killing grounds for Tutsis as belongings of victims are still found in some places of worship that have been turned into Genocide memorials.
During Genocide against Tutsi, there was neither church nor organization which dared releasing a statement denouncing the crime against humanity but some religious leaders worked with authorities to execute the Genocide.
{{International community kept a deaf ear }}
The United Nations and other international organizations were represented in Rwanda during the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi but kept a deaf ear to denounce and stop the atrocities until RPA Inkotanyi intervened to save the country from the devil’s hands.
The level of irresponsibility escalated further as Genocide began when UN troops abandoned Tutsis leaving them in the hands of perpetrators who wanted to exterminate all.
Nyanza-Kicukiro is distinctly known as one of the places where thousands of people were massacred a few days after the beginning of the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi.
When the genocide began on April 7, over 3000 Tutsi from Kicukiro sought refuge at a former technical school, Ecole Technique Officielle de Kicukiro (ETO), in the belief that they would be protected by the United Nations peacekeeping forces for Rwanda (MINUAR) that was based there.
MINUAR would however desert them a few days later, despite the tension that had built up as the Interahamwe militia and government soldiers had surrounded the school.
Following the departure of the UN troops, government soldiers and Interahamwe took control of ETO Kicukiro.
In the school, Tutsi were taken by government soldiers and Interahamwe to Sonatube to be murdered there but the then mayor of the city, Lt. Col. Tharcisse Renzaho, ordered that they instead be taken to Nyanza and killed from there because Sonatube was too visible along the road to the airport.
The Tutsi were then forced to march back, all the way to Nyanza, amid a heavy downpour. Many had not eaten for a couple of days. Those too weak to walk were killed on the way. When they arrived at Nyanza, the militia asked them to present their IDs to ensure that no Hutu were among the group.
Mass killings then began and many of them were killed using machetes. The next morning, as the killers attempted to finish off those who were still alive, the Rwandan Patriotic Army soldiers arrived and rescued the few who had survived the massacre.
These abandoned Tutsi were killed on 11th April 1994.
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