Comparison Of The Rwandan And Bosnian Genocide

Genocides happen when ethnic divisions become apparent. Many times, these ethnic divisions were due to colonization from people of different race. These cases are especially true in Africa when Europeans colonized their territory, with clear racial divisions between them (Gavin). These genocides go on because of nations acting on ignorance and refusing to help out the nations in turmoil, allowing the genocides to continue, without wasting their own resources. These nations purposefully ignoring the slaughter of people cause the nations to also be guilty of the genocide underway (“The Heart”). The genocide occurred in Rwanda in Central Africa during 1994. The decades of Tutsi oppression of Hutus and the assassination of President Habyarimana in 1994 led to the genocide in Rwanda.

Discuss and Analyze the similarities and differences between the genocide committed in Rwanda and Yugoslavia in the 1990s.

The United Nations Assistance Mission for Rwanda was a mission designed to help carry-out the conditions set forth in the Arusha Accords, which were signed in 1993, with the purpose of ending the Rwandan Civil War. The UN was aware of the situation in Rwanda, and the tension between the two ethnic groups, well before the genocide was committed.

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

The United nations refused to intervene during the genocide but instead provided humanitarian aid. As time went on they established six “safe area.” These efforts failed because the U.N. was not prepared or didn’t have the correct resources. The hostile situation went on for over four years. In the beginning of the Bosnian War, U.N. did nothing to stop mass executions, concentration camps, rape and sexual violence, and forced displacement. Again, their role was to show a presence, give assistance when needed and be

Rwanda is a country located in the middle of the African continent. The two ethnic groups present in the country lived in peace under their monarch until the arrival of Europeans. The Belgians arrival into Rwandan is what split the two ethnic groups of the Tutsi and Hutus, making them identify themselves with ID cards. This caused tension between the two groups as the Belgians favored the ethnic Tutsi, and made them the head of the government. Decade’s later Hutu extremists would take over the government and have revenge on the Tutsi. The new government would send out broadcasts calling on Hutus to kill their friends and neighbors. The Rwandan genocide would become the worst genocide to ever happen in Africa and one of the worst in the world. Today Rwanda’s recovery is surprisingly fast with the help of multiple nations and organizations. Rwanda’s recovery is nothing short of a miracle and is an amazing story of a war between two peoples.

Throughout the course of history, mankind has had a desire to become rich and powerful. Infamously, men have tried nearly every tactic to acquire such goals. Concentration camps, massacres, and famines are just simply some of the tactics used. As seen in both the Cambodian, and Rwandan Genocides, manual labor, along with malnutrition were primarily the cause of death amongst the captives.

The UN and the US government are accredited for deploring conflict situations as well as contributing humanitarian aid, and this is what these two organizations did in Rwanda and Darfur. However, the UN did not do anything to punish or prevent the genocides that took place in these two countries. The US government promised to support the peace talk’s agreement in Darfur and hold the perpetrators accountable for their acts. It never kept that promise since nothing has been done. So far, the UN’s Security Council has also failed in its peace keeping mission effeorts, and is instead pressuring Sudan with words only. No solid steps have been made to bring the wrong doers into justice (Shapiro).

On April 7th, 1994 in the small East African country of Rwanda the darkest and most brutal tragedy occurred, the Rwandan genocide. 800,000 Tutsi’s and Rwandan men and women were grossly slaughtered by the Hutu government. This was one of the worst genocides in history and yet not many people spoke about it, why? I believe many people did not say anything is because they were scared that they would be caught and then killed. A man by the name of Philippe Gaillard was a part of the Red Cross international committee in Kigali. He was one of the few people who spoke up about the tragedies occurring in Rwanda. He told his friend who was a news reporter for the BBC in France and published his story. By Gaillard not “shutting up” about the situation it made the Hutu extremists embarrassed and this lead to the Hutu government allowing the Red Cross committee to have safe passage throughout Rwanda. “America, the beautiful America, the brave”, was what America was known for being, but after the ethnic cleansing of the Rwandan people it changed.

With over eight hundred thousand to one million deaths, the Rwandan genocide is undoubtedly one of the most sad and shocking examples of the lack of intervention by not only the US and the UN, but by other countries as well. The ongoing tensions between the Hutu, the largest population in Rwanda, and the Tutsi, the smaller and more elite population is what eventually lead to the Rwandan genocide. The killings began quickly after President Habyarimana 's plane was shot down. After hundreds of thousands of deaths, the US did not intervene in Rwanda because being a landlocked country with no natural resources to benefit the US, there was no economical benefit, and the risk of sending in troops simply outweighed the rewards. The aftermath of the genocide has not only impacted those who lived through it, but it has also impacted future generations as well. At the end of the genocide, the ICTR was formed by the UN to find justice. The Rwandan genocide has shocking similarities between the Holocaust and the Armenian Genocide as well. Overall, the Rwandan genocide was a terrible event that escalated far beyond what it should have if there had been intervention from other countries and the UN.

For example, as the events of the Darfur genocide unfolded, member nations pressured the UN to call it a genocide, obligating it to act, yet refused to provide it with the essential military and financial support. As Gérard Prunier, author of Darfur: The Ambiguous Genocide explains, "this situation came to demonstrate the UN's practical limitations in crises where the heavyweight member states do not want to act. Blaming the UN was easy for those who were responsible for its inaction." The United Nations has and continues to accomplish volumes for humanity, but in the face of genocide, the UN is a defunct organization, dependent entirely upon the will of its member nations.

Raphael Lemkin described genocide as "acts of barbarism that should be outlawed, even in times of war". Lemkin is right. Genocide is a cruel vicious act that I do not wish upon my greatest enemies. It is torture and death. A lot of people think genocide is a thing of the past. After all it is 2014 already. We are so much more advanced and connected then back during the time of the Holocaust. A genocide started just 22 years ago and it was during the Bosnian War. The Bosnian Genocide was atrocious because it classified and dehumanized a religion, it allowed for the extermination of a people based on religion and the murderers denied they ever committed a crime and tried to cover the deaths up.

“Genocide” is a term that has acquired such power that some refuse to even utter it aloud. Surprisingly, most of the massacres took place in churches. (Mamdani). Many outside observers particularly Western countries like britain and the US thought the main reason for the violence was tribal warfare or tribalism (Nardo 27). Some formed death squads that would murder their neighbors, strangers, and sometimes even their own family members. Supposedly the victims deserved to be

Warfare is always destructive, and effects the people for a longtime. Genocide however always has a long effect not only on the country that has suffered from the warfare, but the world. The Rwandan Genocide didn't last long like the Holocaust, but it was the shortest genocide in history with fatal results. The Rwandan Genocide was cause by inter-racial tension in the country. This conflicted could have been avoided or even nonexistent if the European negative presence was never in the country. Due to the European negative presence Rwanda, it cause inter-racial tensions and caused the warfare in Rwanda.

I think if nations see that a genocide is about to happen, and that it is starting to occur, but has not yet fully began they should try with all their power to stop it from happening, before it’s too late. If countries can make a peaceful end to the situation, I think they should. They should investigate deep into the countries past, looking for anything that might help them get through and talk to the people behind the genocide. See what’s going on and why they are going to such extremes. They should ask questions like, who is behind the mass murders. Is it the leader of the country killing his people? Is it a terrorist group acting on their own accord to make people bend to their will or is it a random group trying to exploit a heritage