what was the main cause of conflict in rwanda?

Answer 1

Well, there were many political and tribal reasons around the time of the genocide, but the primary cause was the bad blood between the "Hootoo" and "Tootsie" tribes.

Answer 2

While tribal warfare was certainly the form the conflict took, and that antagonism between the tribes had an extremely long history, I would have to say the CAUSE was colonialism. The Europeans who colonized Rwanda in the 19th century imposed a regime that reinforced and exacerbated the old tribal antagonisms. When Rwanda (like so many other African countries) acheived independence, it imploded under the weight of old prejudices and disunified bids for power.

Answer 3

blaming everything on colonialism is a load of manure.
The main problem in Rwanda (Burundi also) is inefficient agriculture. This means there is not enough land to satisfy the farmers (Hutu tribe) and the cattle breeders (Tutsi tribe). The two tribes want exclusive rights for the use of land

The same conflict occured in other places in the world- from the steppes of Mongolia to the 18 century USA. Everywhere the conflict was solved either by the imposition of law by force or by improving land use (new cattle breeding methods, new grain varieties) to such a degree that the amount of available land satisfies all the concerned parties.

In Africa the main problem is that local corruption and lack of education makes the introduction of such methods very difficult. However getting cheap guns from China is easy, having idealistic idiots in the "west" pay for them is fun, and blaming it all on the colonialists is the cream on the cake

Answer 4

Rwanda supports the densest human populations in continental Africa. The country is well known to the outside world for the infamous 1994 genocide that resulted in the deaths of an estimated 1 million people in as little as only 100 days. Aside from the massacre in 1994, Rwanda has a long and tragic history of conflict, violence and serial genocide.


Rwanda's dependence on subsistence agriculture, dense and increasing population, depleted soil fertility and uncertain climate make Rwanda a country where chronic malnutrition is widespread and poverty is endemic.The Twa, a pygmoid people, have probably inhabited the region in and around Rwanda for 35,000 years. In recent times the Twa have occupied a very low social status and have often been exploited. Between the 7th and 10th centuries AD, the Bantu-speaking Hutu people arrived from the Congo basin. They began a primarily agricultural way of life. Between the 14th and 15th centuries, the pastoral Tutsi population arrived and formed a number of chieftain-led units based on clan structures. These later merged to form a state centered near Kigali. Land was gradually transferred from Hutu hands to the Mwami, the central leader of the Tutsi.


Between 1860 and 1895, Mwami Rwabugiri consolidated land control centrally. Some Hutu were allowed to "earn" back their land by a system of forced labor similar to sharecropping called uburetwa. Local Hutu administrators appointed by the Mwami ("land chiefs") supervised this system. A similar, but much smaller, system of patronage based upon cattle ownership, known as ubuhake (a "patron/client" relationship), allowed Hutu to earn cattle (and therefore status) through forced labor as well. This system was supervised by a Mwami-appointed "cattle chief," who was always a Tutsi. Tutsi commoners could also earn their way into the Tutsi aristocracy in this system, but were not required to perform similar degrees of forced labor as were the Hutus. In each region the Mwami also appointed a Tutsi "military chief." It was Rwabugiri, therefore, that created the caste system between Hutu and Tutsi.


In many parts of Rwanda the population had been fluid, both through migration as well as through intermarriage, and in these areas Rwabugiri denoted certain clan lineages as being Tutsi aristocracy by the number of cattle they possessed at the time, and by the relationships the clans had with regional Tutsi chiefs. These systems persisted until abolished in 1954

Answer 5

Hootoo Tootsie

Answer 6

The same problem that exists throughout most of Africa: tribal warfare.