Ñhallenges to development posed by Rwandas colonial experience

CHALLENGES TO DEVELOPMENT POSED BY RWANDA'S COLONIAL EXPERIENCE
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Almost every country in Africa went through colonization with the exception of two countries. Most of the countries were faced with challenges which contributed to civil war trying to remove the colonial powers from their mother land. Though these challenges were common in most African countries, Rwanda among the African countries faced a hideous experience when it comes to civil wars resulting from European colonialism. This resulted to genocide where more than one million people died. This paper seeks to look at the colonial history of Rwanda and how civil war has contributed to un-development in Rwanda.
Rwanda has established to be a land of fascination and horror since its independence. Its independent birth comes with terrible episodes of mutual violence, and Rwanda people have known oppression, fear and genocide during the postcolonial period. In 1994, there was genocide which was an event which is still fresh in most people psyche up to date. This genocide that took place in 1994 was an event of historical and global significance, representing other genocides that had happened in the twentieth century where many people got killed in about three months of that year (Odom, 2005).
Rwanda population is made up of three ethnic groups which include: the Tutsi, the Hutus and a minor group of about 1% of the Twa. The Hutus dominates the land since they are about 85% of the total population and they were known to be farmers. On the other hand, the Tutsi and the Twa made up the other 15%. Tutsi was cattle handlers by tradition, and they lived and respected each other before the Belgian forces came to have power in their mother land.
Though there were several issues that contributed to conflict between the Hutus and Tutsi the idea of their separation was mainly formed by the Belgian forces, who thought that they were separate racial groups and certain which group every person fitted to by writing on the identity cards that everyone had to carry (Dudley, 2001). Though one could tell it even before the introduction of the identity cards, Hutus were believed to have originated from the North while the Tutsi was from the South. Their complexions were different, and Tutsi were seen to be less "Africans" and more like Europeans.
This brought about nepotism of people who belonged to the same group and have almost same origins. The Belgians realized their differences, and they made it worse by dividing the two groups where once can say it was a wheel which lead to genocide in Rwanda. Division of the two groups was done by profession and wealth. In this case, if persons had more than ten cows, they were Tutsi, and if they owned less than ten they were Hutu. Twa were minorities and were not affected much by this.
The Rwanda genocide can be traced back from the era of colonization in Rwanda. Before they were taken over by Germans, Rwanda lived as a monarchy where respect of each every group was vital to them. After the World War I, it was seized and given as a protectorate to Belgium. After this, the Belgium decided to rule Rwandan people by dividing then into discrete groups, by a quite uninformed system. As a result of this, the Tutsi was favored, and they were seen as superiors to the Hutus and rule with their help (Rittner, Roth, & Whitworth, 2004).
Hatred between the Hutus and Tutsi start developing since Tutsi were more favored to extent that their children received better education than those of Hutus. The enforcement of the strict taxis by the Tutsi to the Hutus made them enemies and the gap between the two groups who were once group become bigger and bigger as days progressed.
After the World War II, Belgium was still under control in Rwanda. This did not take long since after several reforms and individual events, the Hutus overpowered the ruling, and dominated the government. As per their ravage, the Hutu discriminated harshly against Tutsi. This rival was developing at an alarming rate, and in 1962; Hutus were massacred when they tried to capture Rwanda`s capital Kigali. This becomes the tread of governing in Rwanda where the government in place favors those from its origin. For instance, if the government belongs to the Hutus, they are well favored, and if the government belongs to the Tutsi, they are favored as well (Melvern, 2004).
There are several factors that have contributed to challenges in Rwanda's Development. The root course of all these challenges can be well traced from the colonial period. Research shows that Rwanda a country with two major ethnic groups lived in harmony before the arrival of the Europeans who colonized them. After their arrival, they favored one tribe in this case the Tutsi and the Hutus were considered marginalized. This resulted in eruption of hatred and the tribes who once lived together in respected turned to be enemies to each other.
Among the numerous factors that hindered the development in Rwanda, Colonization which effects resulted to genocide, poor governance and introduction of taxes can be some of this factors that had made Rwanda remain in the old systems since it`s what they are doing at this time were things they would have done before of all was going well.
Colonization in Rwanda
As mentioned before, peace and harmony were prevailing in Rwanda till the arrival of Europeans. It is after their arrival in Rwanda that they decided to side with one tribe and did what they possibly could to assist them and leave the other tribe. Racism was also there in Rwanda. For instance, the Europeans said that the Hutus were more likely to them and therefore they ended up dividing them by profession (Malanczuk, 1997). Introduction of the identification cards made it worse, and the Rwandans never see each other as people with the same origin but as enemies.
Before genocide and also arrival of Europeans, Rwandans were specialized in farming and pastoralist (cattle keeping). This continued for a while, and in 1989, the price of coffee collapsed. The government which was Belgian at this time had encouraged farmers to grow coffee and its drop affected the Rwanda economy by a big margin. This resulted in Rwanda`s government borrowing a large amount of money from abroad, and this affected them even more. The poverty margin in Rwanda showed that most Rwanda`s were still malnourished, and poverty was still a factor to consider in Rwanda. The Belgian who were in power by then, blamed the Tutsi for the failur...