Reply #80: tribal wars

[one-eyed fat man]

Tribal wars in Africa have been going on for more millenia than recorded history. When one tribe wanted to expand their gene pool, steal food or water, or simply for entertainment, they made war on their neighbors. One result of those ancient tribal wars was that women too old or ugly to rape and those opposing warriors they didn't kill would have been sold to passing Arab traders destined for Dutch and Portuguese slave ships. Remember, rape, sack, loot and pillage were the reenlistment bonus for tribal warriors while the selling of slaves was their retirement fund.

For five centuries the colonial powers drew boundaries in Africa to suit their purposes regardless or despite ethnic, tribal or political divisions of the existing populations. One result of those policies was to put ancient enemies into competition for power of present day countries. Plenty of examples of tribal and ethnic cleansing are evident in present day Sudan, Rwanda, Congo and Kenya. There is still a booming slave trade in west Africa and along the Ivory Coast.

Using mostly machetes, axes and other farming implements, Hutus engaged in the mass killing of hundreds of thousands of Rwanda's Tutsis. Over the course of approximately 100 days, from April up until mid July, most estimates indicate between 800,000 and 1,000,000, or roughly 70% of the Tutsi population were hacked to pieces.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/1288230.stm

Khmer Rouge, heavily armed with all manner of genuine military firearms killed of approximately 2 million Cambodians between 1975 and 1979.

http://www.mekong.net/cambodia/deaths.htm

Had the genocide in Cambodia kept pace with Rwanda the death toll over 4 years would have been between 116,800,000 and 146,000,000. (Just about everybody between the California state line and the Atlantic coast)

Even, the program of deliberate extermination planned and executed by Nazi Germany pales in comparison to the savagery of Rwanda. The total number of victims of Hitler's genocidal policies, including the handicapped and Romani, Poles and Soviet POW is generally agreed to be between 9 and 11 million. Even killing on an industrial scale failed to eclipse the unmitigated savagery of the Rwandan genocide.

http://books.google.ca/books?id=lpDTIUklB2MC&pg=PP1&dq=...

The mere possession of a more efficient tool is no substitute for a truly murderous heart!