Genocide in Rwanda: international response

Historical Context: The Rwanda Genocide was a genocidal slaughter of the Tutsi’s by the Hutu’s, taking place in 1994. This event was a shock to the world, as 1,000,000 Rwandans were killed within the space of 100 days. The atrocity took place following the Civil War, an on-going conflict that had reached a conclusion in 1993, which many Hutu’s weren’t happy with. As a result, in 1994, Hutu’s within the army, police, Government backed militias and the civilian population turned on the Tutsi’s. This mass slaughter marked a significant disruption to World Order, due to the large number of deaths and the inaction of the world to reinstate peace in Rwanda. Nations who faced criticism for their lack of action include; the US, UK and Belgium, who failed to support the UN peacekeeping troops in Rwanda.

In midst of making meticulous plans, the anti-Tutsi Hutu’s had hopes to slaughter a list of Tutsis and their Hutu sympathizers. That being said, how the key international leaders should have acted during these times of structural violence remains abstruse, “the belief was that the price to the world of such a risk would not be as great as the price of inaction” (Gourevitch 1998: 169). The international community had deployed from their legal responsibilities to mitigate the colossal humanitarian tragedy. The peace-keepers at the time of genocide express that they did not have enough militants to save thousands of lives or act quickly enough. Although the peace-keepers had good intentions, an intelligence capability for early warnings and planning could have been useful during these times of tragedy in

The first reason that the US did not intervene in Rwanda is the previous Black Hawk Down incident. This unfortunate event took place in 1993 when a group of soldiers attempted to make peace

The United Nations failed Rwanda, in a time of need they abandoned the Rwandan people giving them no physical protection. Sadly, things go wrong with the slaughter of almost 800,000 Rwanda people, left defenseless in a country where no one outside cared. U.N. troops were present as only “peace-keepers.” The dispute was between the Hutus and Tutsis people could of been controlled if the U.N. changed their position, but the result could bring more consequences. This conflict between the two social groups in Rwanda,was left to be resolved on its own with many lives lost.

If nations knew that there would be consequences to their calculations of profit from the genocide, that would cause them to lean towards the right and not the wrong. Taking away the benefits of any alliance or trade, to the ones that cause genocide would intensify the seriousness of their atrocities. Together, every member of all diplomatic nations, must have the right to intervene in military interventions. Solving the issue before it happened would have been helpful when the Serbians manipulated Bosnians by feeding the children cookies, and assuring them not to be afraid. The United Nations should have not been deceived by these actions, nor abandoned 25,000 Bosnians gathering in a United Nations base, wanting protection. Not only did the Unite Nations ignore this situation, but they claimed to not have any information about the Rwandan genocide that cause the deaths of 800,000 individuals. Therefore, we must hold our leaders accountable to their promises to alleviate the issues, otherwise they should be denied not to hold that

In the case of the Rwandan Genocide, the Hutus and Tutsis resented each other due to this innate behavior, and Belgium amplified it further. However, these wired tendencies can be disposed of with nurturing. Therefore, it is essential in such cases that the different groups find a middle ground because a distinction between “us and them” only develops into further discrimination. Hence, it is pivotal to spot signs of genocide as a means to prevent it. Secondly, the lack of international response during the Rwandan genocide serves to highlight the significance of outside intervention.

After the atrocities of the Rwandan Genocide and the lack on international intervention, Rwandan was forced to rebuild itself from scratch. Rwanda is a small country located in central Africa. Its population is divided between two ethnic groups: the hutus and the tutsis. The roots of the Rwandan genocide date back to 1924 when Belgium first took over Rwanda, formally a part of Tanzania. The Belgians viewed Tutsi superior to the hutus. Many referred to this as Hamitic hypothesis. It was motivated mainly by the fact that Tutsi were taller and thinner than hutus. This lead to a major boost in Tutsi egos and mistreatment of the Hutus for decades. This angered the Hutus leading to a major conflict between the two ethnic groups.

Nevertheless, they failed to prevent this ridiculous genocide because of their lack of attempt and lack of effort to stop it. On the fourteenth-anniversary of the genocide, the UN’s thoughts go out to the victims who have been traumatized, hurt, or dead during Rwanda’s Genocide. Quote UN secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon’s message “It is often those who most need their rights protected, who also need to be informed that the Declaration exists -- and that it exists for them.”- This message was a little too late after hundreds of thousands of people have been brutally massacred in the genocide in Rwanda. Though the UN seemed to have convinced the people in Rwanda that they were doing their best to stop this, nevertheless, the UN is respectively responsible for their inability to keep peace among the ethnic tribes (Hutus and Tutsis). (M2PressWIRE, 2008)

On May 25, 1994, U.S. president, Bill Clinton, wrote in a letter to Representative Harry Johnston, “The White House issued a strong public statement calling for the Rwandan Army and the Rwandan Patriotic Front to do everything in their power to end the violence immediately. This followed an earlier statement by me calling for a cease-fire and the cessation of the killings” (qtd. in Baldauf). It seems that by calling out those engaged in the conflict, the U.S. took the responsibility from themselves and took no further action. In the post-Cold War era, it is not surprising that most other countries followed the lead of the U.S. and also chose to not take any significant action

This sparked a massive war, which came to be known as the Rwandan genocide. Extremists created riots and war areas for weeks. In that time over 800,000 men, women and children fell victim to this horrible catastrophe. This genocide event wiped out almost 3/4 of the Tutsi population. This was as close to extinction of a culture anyone has seen before. It took years to return to a normal state of being. All of this resulted from greed, people who wanted to strike fear and hatred into people, only to keep themselves in a powerful position, most likely in government. The United Nations became aware of this massive slaughter eventually, but no-one would step up and acknowledge it as being a genocide, even though this was in exact terms of what it

Abimbola, Olaifa and Danjibo Dominic. The 1994 Rwandan Conflict: Genocide or War? International Journal on World Peace. Vol XXX No. 3(2013). 31-54. Print.

The United States, as a leading world power that owes much of their foundation and rise to power to colonization, holds a responsibility to recognize and prevent acts of genocide. Outside countries cannot be excused for and must be held accountable for their actions during times of crisis, for their passive (and direct) endorsement of systematic annihilation as had happened during the Rwanda Genocide. Western countries especially cannot distance themselves from such issues, cannot claim “innocence” when it is their lack of action and indifference that allowed for such atrocities to occur.

The 1990 's was a grim time in history all across the globe, its epicentre being Rwanda. In April of 1994 the Rwandan President Habyarimana was shot down from a plane. In consequence, immediate war was struck and the goal of extermination of the Tutsi was commenced. This genocide was the result of conscious choice of the elite, therefore, president Habyarimana to promote hatred and fear to keep itself in power. Rwanda’s political elite blamed the entire Tutsi minority population for the country’s increasing social, economic, and political pressures. Tutsi civilians were also accused of supporting a Tutsi-dominated rebel group, the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF). Using hateful propaganda, reading out names of people that must be killed and articles on newspapers. Tutsi and people suspected of being Tutsi were killed in their homes and as they tried to flee at roadblocks set up across the country during the genocide. Leaving an unimaginable 800,000 people dead. Mothers and daughters raped, children, boys and men slaughtered with machetes (United Human rights coucil,2015). How did it get this far? What was the worlds reaction to this gruesome mass murder?

The Rwandan president, Habyarimana and the president of Burundi, Cyprien Ntaryamira, are killed when the president’s plane is shot down near Kigali Airport, on April 6th, 1994. That night on the 6th of April, 1994, the genocide begins. Hutu people take to the streets with guns and machetes. The Hutus set up roadblocks and stopped anyone that looked Tutsi or suspected of helping Tutsi people to hide. On April 7th, 1994 the Rwandan Armed Forces set up roadblocks and went house to house to kill any Tutsis found. Thousands of people die on the first, while the U.N. just stands by and watches the slaughter go on. On April 8th, 1994 the U.N. cuts its forces from 2,500 to 250 after ten U.N. soldiers were disarmed and tortured and shot or hacked to death by machetes, trying to protect the Prime Minister. As the slaughter continues the U.N. sends 6,800 soldiers to Rwanda to protect the civilians, on May 17th, 1994, they were meant to be the peacekeepers. The slaughter continues until July 15th, 1994, in the 100 days that the genocide lasted 800,000-1,000,000 Tutsis and Hutus

In Rwanda, in 1994, the United Nations ignored the call to act fast, and only stepped up after hundred days, after close to 800,000 people had lost their lives.