Hello, the title is the exact copy past of another post made more than 2 years ago but that basically got no answers, so I allowed myself to ask the question again because im highly interested in it. Like I understand in the very first days the tutsis were tricked into locations like stadiums and churches thinking the gov would protect them so basically hutus had no fear to have and could exit those places but tutsis stayed for protection so basically anyone there could get killed since it was by design all tutsis and that was a big part of the victims count. But concerning the tutsis that weren't inside those places, considering the fact that they now knew any hutu would want to kill them so showing your tutsi ID wasn't an option anymore, how would hutus identify tutsis without ID cards, was it like behavioral hints ? Or maybe their non biological physical appearance like the way they are dressed and their material belongings ? A combination of both ? Or is it those physical traits they talk about like noses and other biological physical appearance ? From what I know from my research online and from real life they talk a lot about the nose more than any other physical trait, even till today, is it true ? Were some tutsis already doomed because they couldn't change the way their face looked like ?
Also one of the reason im highly interested in this question is because all the time they talk about ID card showing tutsi on it so they got killed, but after a few days since the genocide started it was clear that anyone including the government was trying to kill you so it makes no sense for rational beings to show their ID just to die right after, yet, this genocide was massive with estimates stating that 80% of the total victim count was achieved by just one month after it started, if you take the 1 million victim estimate that would give you 800 000 victims in a month with almost all tutsis from the interior killed during this genocide, and I'm wondering how could they kill so many people just with ID cards alone, that seems so nonsensical, did they finished anyone that didn't have an ID on him/her ? I know that it's a small country very rural and stuff so you also had neighbours that would know you are a tutsi, but if you weren't anymore in your neighborhood/village, how was it possible to identify somebody that is supposed to look exactly like "your" people, as mentioned in the title, couldn't tutsis pass themselves as hutus ?
Btw im not questionning the fact that id cards weren't a reason for why tutsis were killed, im just saying it seems weird you can kill almost all of them with cards alone, i never questioned that fact in my post actually but im just putting this disclaimer here just in case, never know.
Sorry for the long question/post.
Hi, I am going to tackle the second part of your question, which relates to the ID-cards and how their existence was handled during the genocide. My sources for this are Gérard Prunier's book The Rwanda Crisis: History of a Genocide and Lt. Gen. Roméo Dallaire's book Shake Hands with the Devil. I am unable to check at the moment but there might even be a passage on this in Prunier's later book From Genocide to Continental War: The "Congolese" Conflict and the Crisis of Contemporary Africa, also known as Africa’s World War: Congo, the Rwandan Genocide, and the Making of Continental Catastrophe, but both his first book and Dallaire's shed light on your question around the IDs. Instances from Dallaire's book are also backed up by reports to the UN and within the UN during the genocide.
The génocidaires went ahead with their killings in several ways. One instance was the "killing in the neighbourhood", which was a "door-to-door campaign" and meant that the killers knew where Tutsi were living. This was based on IDs, wherever it was not your own neighbours participating in your death. In the early stages, Dallaire reported that there were instances of teachers filing lists of their classes, dividing the pupils into Tutsi and Hutu and forwarding those lists to sources close to or identical with the Interahamwe (Hutu extremists, mostly young people and even children, which acted as paramilitary arm of the Hutu extremist party MRND).
Another form the brutal acts took, was targeting places people fled to after the killings started. This included churches, schools and other sanctuaries. We have reports from United Nations Military Observers (UNMOS) being present at some places but unable to stop the killings. In at least one case Dallaire reported that all people within a church were killed with machetes. This included not only Tutsi but also Hutu.
Which leads us to the next focal point. While the intention that drove the génocidaires was the extermination of all Tutsi, they also targeted moderate Hutus. This started at the highest level, e.g. Prime Minister Agathe Uwilingiyimana, and went down to even target common people who weren't openly siding with the Interahamwe.
Finally, we come to the point were ID cards majorly came into play during the genocide. I will use the capital Kigali as an example but the bottom line is that the same situation happened all over the country in areas controlled by the RGF (the formal military arm of the government). In the captial, roadblocks sprang up in increasingly big numbers. These were sometimes manned by regular army (RGF), sometimes by police but oftentimes by Interahamwe. Here we get to the core of your question. People were still trying to move through the city, sometimes trying to escape the increasingly heated atmosphere between the military parties, especially after the RPF moved into a complex, sometimes to get to one of the "safe zones" of the city.
This included not only Tutsi who were at times coming out of hiding but also Hutu. At the roadblocks, people were required to show their IDs. Those highlighted as Tutsi were often killed on the spot. Reports send to the UN mention slain bodies lying in ditches next to roadblocks or being loaded onto trucks to be moved away. Those who didn't have an ID on them were targeted, too. While there are no definite reports on if this was handled the same way at all roadblocks, we do know that in several cases Tutsi and Hutu alike were killed at roadblocks if they couldn't provide IDs. This is turn implicates that there is not necessarily a physical or otherwise obvious distinction between Tutsi and Hutu but I will leave this part of your question to others who are familiar with it or the research and facts around it.
I hope that solves your question around handling of IDs or lackthereof at roadblocks and (perceived) safe spaces around the country.
It was a combination of many factors.
First, people knew each other in the village. They knew where the Tutsis / Hutus families lived. In some extreme instances, Tutsis were segregated to some neighborhoods. These Tutsis were mostly massacred by people who knew them, their neighbors.
Second, people to be exterminated were added on lists to compliment ID card screening. Militia used those lists to hunt people down.
Third, there are physical stereotypes believed by people in those days vehemently pushed by propaganda. They would say that Tutsis tended to have a bigger forehead, a slender nose, lighter skin and be tall. If you were suspected to be a Tutsi because you possessed those traits, you were immediately exterminated. Now biology is complex, some Hutus were killed off by mistakes because they dared to possess those same traits.
Fourth, a large group of Tutsis would run away together to take refuge at certain sites hoping to find protection or bunker down. Unfortunately, genocidal militias usually found out about these spots and head there to finish "the job". Tutsis would try to resist but it was futile considering militias were better armed and received government support.