V for 100 days, beginning on April 6, 1994, nearly 800,000 ethnic Tutsis were killed by Hutu extremists as they tried to eradicate a minority group in Rwanda.
Although the brutal genocide is over, the horror of it lives on in the DNA of Tutsi victims and their descendants. A team of scientists from the University of South Florida discovered
chemical modifications in the genes associated with mental disorders in pregnant women and children they carried during the genocide.
These findings suggest that, unlike gene mutations, these chemical “epigenetic” modifications may have a rapid response to trauma across generations. The study also provides more evidence for a theory known as intergenerational trauma, which states that trauma can be inherited because there are genetic changes in a person’s DNA.
Trauma can be passed down generations as study finds Rwanda genocide in 1994 chemically modified DNA of pregnant Tutsi women and their children: Horror of event changed genes implicated i…
– Ugin (@ uginm102) January 19, 2022
However, the changes do not damage the genes, but change the way they function. Professor Monica Udine said in a statement: “Epigenetics refers to stable but reversible chemical modifications made to DNA that help control gene function.
This can happen in a shorter period of time than is necessary for changes in the basic DNA sequence of genes. Our study found that prenatal genocide exposure was associated with an epigenetic pattern suggesting
reduced gene function in the offspring ‘.
The genocide in Rwanda began when President Habyarimana’s plane was shot down over the capital, Kigali. His death has fueled years of simmering ethnic tensions, and Hutu extremists have launched a planned extermination campaign against the Tutsi minority.
The killings stopped only when the Tutsi-controlled patriotic front of Rwanda took control of the country and brought Paul Kagame to power. By the end of the genocide, about 70% of the Tutsi ethnic group had been killed.
Udine and her colleague Derek Wildman began their research to help provide the scientific tools needed to address the mental health problems of genocide survivors. Together with the help of Clarice Musanabaganwa, a visiting scientist from the University of Rwanda and her colleagues, the team examined DNA from blood samples from 59 people.
Participants included 33 mothers (20 exposed to genocide and 13 not) and 26 offspring (16 exposed to genocide and 10 not).
People exposed to genocide are defined as those who have suffered trauma related to it, such as rape, avoidance of capture, testimony of murder, sighting of dead and mutilated bodies, serious assault with a weapon.
“The people of Rwanda who are participating in this study and the community as a whole really want to know what happened to them, because there are a lot of cases of post-traumatic stress disorder and other mental disorders in Rwanda and people want answers to why they have these feelings and problems. Said Wildman.
The team’s work is another study that aims to provide evidence that trauma is passed down through the generations, as it is found among Holocaust survivors and their descendants and the average person who has experienced violence, poverty and other traumatic events.
However, the latest study wants to shed light on
the horror that happened 28 years ago in Africa.
Most Rwandans are ethical Hutus, but the country was ruled by a Tutsi minority for decades until 1959, when the Tutsi monarchy was overthrown.
In 1990, a Tutsi rebel group called the Rwandan Patriotic Front, formed in Uganda, invaded the country. After several years of guerrilla warfare, a peace agreement was signed in 1993 between President Juvenal Habyarimana and the leaders of the Front.
However, the fragile peace lasted only until the night of April 6, 1994, when a plane with Habyarimana and Cyprian Ntaryamira, president of Burundi and a Hutu, was shot down. The Hutus blamed the Front for the attack and made a “final decision” to liberate the country from the Tutsis, with militias handing out lists of names.
Neighbors turned against each other, husbands killed their Tutsi wives
and there were even stories of priests and nuns killing those who sought refuge in churches. The Tutsi people were slaughtered by Hutu government supporters who claimed to be “removing cockroaches.” Men, women and children were knocked down with machetes, grenades and bullets in their homes and on the streets.
