Radio Machete?

Media During the Rwandan Genocide

Abstract

Throughout the Rwandan Civil War and the subsequent Rwandan Genocide of 1994, radio propaganda played a significant role in exploiting tensions between the Hutu and Tutsi ethnic groups which would culminate in the incitement of genocidal violence. This article examines the period of unstable peace between the signing of the Arusha Accords in 1993 and the outbreak of genocide in 1994, and aims to progress the idea that inflammatory propaganda through the radio played a compounding role in the genocide, though not the sole cause. This essay draws on primary sources such as the transcription of radio broadcasts from these stations, as well as interviews with the broadcasters and the genocide participants, or “genocidaires.” This paper argues that in order to gain influence among the Rwandan population, inflammatory radio stations in Rwanda pursued a sequential and cumulative process that was both intentional and circumstantial.