The Rwandan genocide was almost 24 years ago

Despite what certain Western media outlets would have you think, the Rwandan genocide took place over 24 years ago, in April 1994. Despite the fact that this was a horrible and traumatic occurrence, Rwanda has done an excellent job of recovering, rebuilding, and rebranding.

The genocide occurred during the civil war that erupted in October 1990 between the Hutu-led government and the RPF. The RPF was a rebel force made up mostly of relatives of Rwandan Tutsi refugees who had fled the country thirty years earlier when the Hutu majority overthrew the Belgians. The RPF and President Habyarimana signed a peace pact in 1993, which resulted in a cease-fire and a plan for the execution of the Arusha Accords, which established a power-sharing government. When the peace treaty was breached, the RPF restarted the fight. Coming from southern Uganda, it gradually seized control of the country, finally taking power in July 1994 and putting an end to the genocide.

The RPF inherited a damaged country after its military victory and taking government on July 19, 1994. Approximately one million people (almost a third of the population) had been slain, two million had fled abroad, and more than one million had been internally displaced. The genocide also caused infrastructural damage, as banks and businesses were looted, the civil service, healthcare, and educational institutions were destroyed, and harvests and animals were lost.