Rwanda's Killing Hell

The unspeakable savagery triggered by the death of Rwanda's President ((RWANDA, April 25)) has a cause even more basic than the long-simmering tribal hostility between the Tutsi and Hutu. Rwanda, with low life expectancy, education and GNP, measures high on the index of human suffering. Deprivation, environmental degradation and desperation have exacerbated tribal rivalries and exploded into mass murder. What Rwanda really needs is family-planning educators and providers, along with equal rights for Rwandan women, because when women make the reproductive decision, family size declines. The influence in Rwanda of another male-dominated hierarchy, and an anti-choice one at that, is more likely to hurt than to help.

Ann Alper

Pacific Palisades, California

My son and I were among the Americans who left Rwanda on April 10. My husband, a Rwandan Hutu, stayed behind. All the stories we have seen in the Western press are pro-Tutsi and one-sided. More than 99% of Hutu are also against the ethnic killing of the Tutsi. The disaffected members of society, organized into street gangs, are the ones killing -- and not only Tutsi but also Hutu. You hint that both ethnic groups (not tribes) have broken promises. If you look at history, it is obvious that Tutsi have killed more often, targeting educated Hutu, than Hutu have ever done until now. Under President Juvenal Habyarimana, both Hutu and Tutsi were learning to live together.

Rita Rukashaza

Platteville, Wisconsin

Visual aids are important devices in journalism, but the ghastly photograph that accompanies your article on Rwanda goes too far. The horrors of bloodshed may be sufficiently communicated through writing, without employing photographs unfit for publication.

Alex Walker

Haverford, Pennsylvania