Rwanda how history can lead to genocide : a film / by Robert Genoud ; Les Films du Village, R.T.N.B., 8 Mont Blanc Television.

Using historical footage and first-hand interviews, this film shows how the genocide that occurred in Rwanda in 1994 had its seeds in the early colonization of the country. When German explorers first came to Rwanda, they observed in the royal court a ruling class, The Tutsis, and a subservient class, the Hutus. This class structure was perpetuated by the Belgians and the French missionaries who followed, supporting as they did the Tutsi minority governing class. In the 1950's, when decolonization movements were spreading in other parts of Africa, there was a stirring for independence in Rwanda as well. The Tutsis wanted to be free of foreign rule but keep the status-quo within the country. The Hutus, however, were in favor of a democracy, even before independence, since that would have given them power. This, then, was the setting for the ethnic conflagration which was to tear the country apart. Despite signals of what was to erupt, the rest of the world never acknowledged the seriousness of the threat until it was too late.