Rwanda Case Study

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.

Considering the UN’s recent failures to facilitate peace in Africa, more care should have gone into assigning leadership roles. While Dallaire came across as a passionate and enthusiastic leader, he admitted he lacked experience and had no prior knowledge on the history of Rwandan cultural or its ethnic conflicts. Even as Dallaire set up his campaign in a rundown hotel in Kigal the peace agreement was being undermined. His arrival was marked by a slew of riots and assassinations, all of which were tests of his ability to maintain the peace. It soon became apparent to Dallaire and Hutu extremist than the UN was ill prepared to handle the peace keeping mission at hand.

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

Sitting outside a grocery shop in the Nyabugogo slum in Kigali, Rwanda, Francis Nduwimana described a longing for a change in leadership in the presidential election on August fourth. “Rwanda is tired of Kagame, but cannot express its views openly. If citizens criticize Kagame, the government agencies will accuse them of dividing the country, and will either be imprisoned or killed,” stated Nduwimana (qtd. in Onyulo). Paul Kagame has been the president of Rwanda since 2000 and could possibly be president till 2034. Under Kagame’s rule, the Rwandan military has gained a massive amount of power over citizens. Rwanda’s military is violating the Human Right’s by taking away Rwandan citizens voices and their ability to restrict the government.

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.

In 1994, genocide unfolded in Rwanda claiming the lives of more than 700,000 Tutsi massacred at the hands of Hutu extremist, while the entire world stood by and watched. Some would argue this event was a result of civil unrest between the Tutsi and Hutu stemming from ancient

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.

Other nations, as humanitarianly inclined as they may be, will always put their interests - whether it be geo-political, economic, military or social - ahead of all other considerations. It is an inescapable fact that many countries are often reluctant to act in a situation which does not directly impact their own welfare and sometimes actively obstruct action by the UN or other forces to satisfy their self-serving purposes. As Lieutenant-General Roméo Dallaire, the Force Commander of the United Nations Assistance Mission for Rwanda (UNAMIR), stated when explaining the reasoning behind the UN's inability to act during the Darfur genocide, "..., it's because Sudan is obstructionist, China is complacent, and Canada and the rest of the international

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)

George Santayana once said “Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.” The Rwanda Genocide is a contemporary representation of the events that occurred during the Armenian Genocide. It is an unforgiving circumstance that even after massacres from the latter and the Holocaust that Genocides still emerge in a world who far too often shuts their door to the idea of intervention. Countries can have an abundance of supplies, unmatchable man-power, and exceptional military equipment, however, with interests in absentia, countries will be reluctant to deploy forces despite exclamations of help. The culmination of the Rwanda Genocide is absolutely an unforgiving portion of history that will be remembered by the victims, the witnesses, and the decision-makers.

As a superpower, Canada has done a great job helping Rwanda recover after the genocide by providing them with aid, military personnel, and protection to the refugees. Firstly, Canada provided humanitarian aid for about two years after the genocide and have contributed efforts to help re-establish Rwanda’s social institutions and rural infrastructure which helped improve agriculture productivity. Secondly, Canada has helped with the refugee crisis going on at the time by setting up refugee camps and allowing 40,000 refugees who were trying to escape, enter Canada. Furthermore, Canada had deployed more than 200 medical, engineer and support staff to help with the recovery process and to treat the injured people. Lastly, Canada had sent about 60 military personnel to help out during the crisis and to prevent the rebels from killing the innocent people. In conclusion, by providing aid, military support and

The UN had resources in Rwanda with the UNAMIR (United Nations Assistance Mission for Rwanda). When the UNAMIR sent, a report saying they needed more because something big was going to happen in Rwanda, the UN didn’t believe them so they did nothing. The UN Security Council took a slightly non-intervention type of thought. They didn’t completely stay out of it, they had peace keepers on the ground in Rwanda. But they didn’t send enough and once they were there left them to their own

Although it is sometimes viewed that major players in the international community did not get involved in the conflict between the Hutus and the Tutsis I argue that in some form or fashion they did. For example, prior to the genocide of 1994 the United States had formed an alliance with the Tutsis, they even gave Paul Kagame, co-founder of the

hold power in Rwanda and it became a central actor of the new regime. It was established in a transitional government and appointed a National Assembly where the RPF occupies 13 seats out of 70. The Hutu Pasteur Bizimungu is the new President, while Paul Kagame, the Tutsi military leader, assumed the positions of Vice-President together and Minister of Defense. The shock of genocide profoundly marked the regime, defining the vision and the behavior of the new Rwandan elites and shifting political tools. The new administration has to pursue the ambitious goals of pacification and the definition of the democratic

Rwanda is a small country located in central Africa. It borders with Uganda, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Tanzania. One of the most terrible “ethnic conflicts” occurred here in 1994, two tribes fought each other within the same territory, the rest of the world bizarrely ignored this event and thousands of people were killed. The event lasted 100 days and almost 1 million people died, even though the Rwanda government asked other countries for military