Hutu and 14% of residents in Rwanda and Burundi, respectively. The Twa pygmies, the smallest of the two countries' principal populations, also share language and culture with the Hutu and Tutsi. However, they are distinguished by a considerably shorter stature. The Hutu are believed to have first emigrated to the Great Lake region from West Africa in the great Bantu expansion. Various theories have emerged to explain the purported physical differences between them and their fellow Bantu-speaking neighbors, the Tutsi. One such thesis, largely based on oral tradition, posits that the Tutsi experienced some admixture with or were partially descended from
Hotel Rwanda President Juvénal Habyarimana, a Hutu, was shot down. Following that incident, the genocide began. Hutu extremists belonging to the Interahamwe militia launched plans to destroy the entire Tutsi civilian population. Tutsi and people suspected of being Tutsi were killed in their homes and as they tried to flee the country. It is estimated that some 200,000 people participated in the perpetration of the Rwandan genocide. Hotelier Paul Rusesabagina of the Belgian owned luxury Hôtel des Mille Collines, used his power and influence to personally save both Tutsi and Hutu refugees. Rusesabagina regularly bribed Rwandan Hutu soldiers and kept militias outside