The people of Rwanda are divided into two ethnic groups, the Tutsis and Hutus. During the Belgian Rule, Rwanda was ruled by the Tutsi minority group(almost 10% of the Population), but after gaining its Independence in 1862, leadership turned over to the Hutus who used the powers to oppress the Tutsis.
The oppressed Tutsis later decided to form the Rwandan Patriotic Front a rebel guerrilla army to rebel against the ruling government. This army, later in 1990, forced the then President Juvenal Habyarimana to sign an agreement that the two tribes would share the powers.
To the Hutu extremists, this was impossible and this increased tension among the natives of the country. Rwanda and Burundi presidents carried out peace talks since Burundi President was a tustsi but they were killed in a jet crush on their way from the peace talks in Tanzania as the descended into Kigali Airport by a missileon April 6, 1994.
This gave an opportunity to the Hutu extremists to start killing the prominent Tutsis and moderate Hutu already on their death lists. The killing later spread into the country an mass killings continued for the next three and a half months. About 800,000 Tutsis are estimated to have been killed with clubs and machetes during the Rwanda Genocide.