Rwanda Map

Population

Refugees

Returnees

The Neighbors

Runaway Rwanda

Refugee Movements | 1992-1997

Rwanda is a small East African country surrounded by mountains, lakes and evergreen landscape. In contrast, the breathtaking natural environment hides a bloody history. Due to violence among the warring Tutsi and Hutu ethnicities in the 1950s and 1960s, hundreds of thousands of people, primarily Tutsi, fled Rwanda and remained refugees for more than 30 years. Throughout the 1980s, Rwanda’s Hutu-led government refused to allow the exiled to return, resulting in an invasion of the country led by the Rwandese Patriotic Front (RPF).

In the 1990s, violence and unrest altered the lives of millions of people; and, over the course of only three months and nine days, hundreds of thousands were killed (BBC, 2019; The UN Refugee Agency). Those who were able to fled Rwanda in the wake of the genocide of 1994. Most refugees went to Tanzania, Zaire (present-day Democratic Republic of the Congo – DRC), Burundi, and Uganda in search of protection; but, some went farther – to Europe and the USA.

Read More...

Hate Speech & Propaganda

It has been two years since the Civil War began. Fabricated news about the Tutsis’ plan to massacre Hutus spreads throughout the country.This message spreads hatred and likely incites the genocidal attacks against Tutsi and their supporters in the following two years. From March through August, this propaganda costs the lives of over 300 Tutsis.

Peace Agreement

The government launches a self-defence program to train militia and furnish them with grenades, machetes, and knives. President Juvénal Habyarimana is forced to sign a UN-sponsored peace agreement with the Rwandan Patriotic Front to end a civil war. The failure of the Arusha Peace Accords drives the government, Tutsi, and Hutu even further apart.

100 Days of Slaughter

After President Habyarimana’s death in a plane shooting attributed to Tutsis, the unresolved political tensions reach a boiling point. The next morning, the genocide begins, in which approximately 1M people are slaughtered. Over 2M people leave Rwanda for neighboring countries: 1.2M in Zaire, 580K in Tanzania, 270K in Burundi, and 10K in Uganda.

Repatriation

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees enforces the repatriation program. In August, the Zairean government closes one camp and forcibly returns 15k refugees to Rwanda. Throughout the year, 700k Tutsi voluntary return home and approx. 20% of Hutu also trickle back. 1.8M Rwandans refuse to return.

The Journey Home

The Rwandan government establishes repatriation reception committees in each prefecture, but banditry, land disputes, and post-genocide revenge are still prevalent. An estimated 1.4M refugees repatriate throughout the year. Over 800 people are killed, and at the end of the year, approximately 257K remain displaced.

From Hatred to Reconciliation

In 1997 another 200K refugees return home. Tutsi and Hutu are forced to live together, share daily lives, and rebuild the country. Forgiveness becomes a secret weapon in reconciliation of genocide survivors with their perpetrators. Government initiatives encourage both parties to work together to rebuild the country.

 We got so used to running that when one wasn’t running, one didn’t feel right. [...] There were only dead people. The bodies fell down in the stream, and I used those bodies as a bridge to cross the water and join the other people in the evenings. 
Manase Bimenyimana (as cited in Gourevitch, 1998)

Mapped Movements

The map below depicts a world view of the movement of refugees between 1992 and 1997 during the Rwandan crisis. As the animation runs, the intensity of the color corresponds to the number of refugees. As each year and country pair is highlighted, a location indicator will appear on the map sized according to the number of refugees. Once the animation concludes, users can further investigate each year's refugee count and location. To to see all refugee movements for the year, hover over either the year axis or each circle in the timeline.

99% Flee to the Neighbors

The sudden onset of violence in Rwanda resulted in mass migrations that were hazardous, chaotic, and difficult to measure. By car or on foot, more than 99% of Rwandan escapees crossed the borders into neighboring countries for asylum and remained until they either voluntarily or mandatorily returned. The consequent atmospheres often favored estimation of numbers over exactness.

The UNHCR assumed the difficult task of compiling data from various government and NGO resources in order to render annual by-country figures of populations returnees. Year-to-year comparisons yield variances that deserve consideration for more critical reviews of the story. Rwandans take pride in the most evident trend that has come to represent reconciliation: there were fewer refugees 3 years after the 1994 genocide than there were in the 33 years before.

Returnees

Refugees

The Neightbors, Out

Death Toll Discrepancies

Death toll estimates during the Rwandan Crisis vary greatly. According to Human Rights Watch, this could be due to intentional or unintentional misrepresentation of ethnicities, the inclusion or exclusion of deaths indirectly related to the genocide, and the fact that mass graves are still being discovered. This chart attempts to represent these vast differences.

To read more about death toll estimates, visit HRW.

Resource Key

RPF Government

Filip Reyntjens