I see. That is a good question.
In my presentation I talked a little about the fact that the rapes committed during the Tutsi genocide were crimes of envy. Let me explain what I mean by that.
Hutus and Tutsis had lived in the same villages forever in Rwanda, but there had not really been any intermarriages, as one might have thought, among these populations that lived side by side. The Tutsis were considered to be of a higher class, while the Hutus were considered to be lower class.
The Tutsi women were beautiful, according to the canons of beauty in Africa or elsewhere. The Hutu women were not as beautiful as the Tutsi women. The Hutus would have like to have Tutsi women because they were beautiful, but they were unattainable to them because they were from the lower class.
During the genocide, the Hutu men got their revenge. They raped Tutsi women who were unattainable to them previously. They felt they then had to rape these women who would not accept marriage to Hutu men. The Hutu women were in agreement with that because they considered that these women had been disdainful and needed to be dragged through the mud.
At the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, in Arusha, one woman who was Minister of Family Affairs was accused of having incited militiamen and even her own son to rape Tutsi women. As I was saying, it was a crime of envy.
During the first trial that took place at the Arusha tribunal, it was recognized that Burgomaster Akayesu—a burgomaster is the mayor of a commune—the first person to have been convicted of genocide, had urged Hutus in his commune to rape Tutsi women by saying “You will not have to ask me what a Tutsi woman tastes like anymore.” That is why I said that these were not crimes to help win the war. This was entirely different.
Currently, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, rape is used as a weapon of war. The militiamen who are fighting amongst themselves want to humiliate the men they are fighting with. When they have won they do not kill them, but they go and rape their women as a way of saying:“There, we are superior.” That is rape used as a weapon of war. It is different from what happened in Rwanda, where the men raped the women after having killed their husbands.
I don't know if I answered your question correctly, but if you need a clarification I can provide one if you did not understand me.