During the 1994 Rwanda genocide the pygmies were also targeted in droves. Before the genocide there were an estimated 30,000 pygmies, 10,000 of those were slaughtered and 10,000 ran to neighbouring countries. They’ve become known as the “forgotten victims” because no one talks about it. One estimated death toll of pygmies during the Congo and Rwanda civil war is 70,000. Because both sides of both wars thought of the pygmies as less-than-human, no one complained or stood up for them.

In the Congo, around 2% of the entire population are pygmies. Most of them are born into slavery and required to work for clothes and cigarettes, or for free. Because of deforestation more and more pygmy people are forced into towns and cities where they are discriminated against from all sides. Most African states don’t consider them to be citizens. That’s pretty screwed up isn’t it? A nation that officially doesn’t recognise a race of people as being humans basically.

☛ More: Tribes #2: The Dayak Headhunters Of Borneo