The Rwanda Witness Analysis

The documentary “Ghost in Rwanda” illustrates the devastation of the 1994 Genocide where approximately eight hundred thousand Rwandans were exterminated by their own government. The genocide was a result of ongoing conflicts between the Hutu, the ethnic majority in Rwanda, and the Tutsi the ethnic minority. The United Nation assisted in the establishment of a peace agreement between the two warring parties and sent General Romeo Dallaire, UN Force Commander, to Rwanda to ensure the terms of the agreement were honored. Dallaire had never seen action and welcomed opportunity to make a difference supporting peace in Africa. The peace mission was especially important to Dalliaire in light of recent U.N. failures to maintain peace in Somalia and Bosnia.

As we could see in this documentary a large amount people died in a short period of time, precisely 800 000 lives were lost during the genocide of Rwanda. It is almost unimaginable how can there be such massacre against others’ lives. I cannot imagine the experience of going through a genocide like the one people experienced in Rwanda. How can a person be killed just by being part of an ethnic group? It not a person’s decision to take the lives of others, and as I mentioned in the Kynrwandan’s post we are all humans and we should be treated as humans, we all have the right to live and be treated with respect regardless of what ethnic group we form part of. This makes me think of the attacks that white extremists have done in

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.

Imagine being suddenly drafted to war, not prepared for the death and horror. Young, confused, scared, naïve. During the Vietnam War, many young men were forced to face a war that changed them, and not necessarily for the better. Many of the men who went to war experienced terrors that changed them in a way that affected their lives after, as shown by countless war stories and poems. Norman Bowker, from Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried (1990), is a perfect example of the hard-bitten war veteran archetype. Fighting in the Vietnam War and feeling as if he had a part in his friend’s death (Kiowa) caused him so much guilt and pain that he ended up hanging himself after endlessly driving around a lake when returning home. Similarly, Yusef Komunyakaa’s poem, “The Dead at Quang Tri”, emphasizes the ghosts that haunt soldiers during and after war. Overall, the haunting memories that characters deal with in war stories, like O’Brien and Komunyakaa’s, display the long lasting effects of death and war on the minds of soldiers.

Historical facts reveal that veterans struggled with re-integration of life and communities they left behind and understood after the Civil War and other wars that followed. During pre-eras veterans were exposed to traumas that resemble those of the twentieth century e.g. trapped in post-war nightmares, injuries, shell shock, effects of depression, and long-term ramifications of psychological and physical health because of war experience (Martin, 2012, p. 12-15).

​For many years war has been a huge part of history. Thousands of people go to war for their country and come back physically fine. But what people usually do not notice is the emotional distress and burden that the veterans come back with on their back. That is what drives the purpose of the book in “The things they carried”. Tim O’Brien wrote this book in way that shows how war can be part of the soldier for the rest of their life. Coming home veterans have to deal with individual sufferings, but the emotional baggage the soldiers bring also effect the people around them. The characters in the book the “The things they carried” portray this very well.

In the United States, thousands of men and woman join the army every year. Post-war trauma effects can influence the emotional and psychological state of the soldier when coming back from combat or reentering civilian life, however, people are not fully aware of such problem. Winner of the 2014 National Book Award for fiction, Phil Klay in his first book Redeployment, delivers readers a unique experience to the front lines of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq through the narratives of different characters and their experiences. The first chapter Redeployment exposes the life of a soldier reentering civilian life, who takes action for the life of his suffering dog Vicar after killing hundreds of dogs during the war while having to address his post-war emotional and psychological state. The last chapter of Redeployment, Ten Kliks South, a Lance Corporal gives the readers an insight of his emotional and psychological state after a mass shooting on a nearby location. In consequence of his lack of experience in the battlefield, the Lance Corporal is faced with several questions, while searching for the true responsible for the fatalities caused by the U.S. soldiers. Both chapters demonstrate a connection as they portray the effects of the war on the emotional and psychological state of the main characters of the two chapters discussed. Such stories help bring awareness to the readers about the importance in understanding how situations can affect the life of soldiers in real life,

Realism is one of the oldest and most popular theories in International Relations. It offers a perspective about competition and power, and can be used to explain the actions between states. An example of realism is the U.S. reaction – or lack thereof – during the 1994 Rwandan genocide.

The Rwandan Genocide of 1994 was one of the worst crimes in human history, which saw the brutal killing of almost a million Rwandan Tutsis and moderate Hutus. (Khan) The genocide had took place in the context of the Rwandan Civil War, an ongoing conflict beginning in 1990 between the Hutu-led government and the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), which was largely composed of Tutsi refugees whose families had fled to Uganda following earlier waves of Hutu violence against the Tutsi. The Arusha Accords (also known as the Arusha Peace Agreement, or Arusha negotiations) were a set of five accords (or protocols) signed in Arusha, Tanzania on August 4, 1993, by the government of Rwanda and the rebel Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), under mediation, to end a three-year Rwandan Civil War.

Anthropology taught us about culture, religion, early human history, and connecting with people worldwide. In modern society, politics play a role in maintaining power and hoping to bring peace to all state and nationwide groups. Our planet may be labeled as a peaceful environment; unfortunately, we deal with a number of violent conflicts and terror that continues to transpire in some cases. Millions of people perish as a result of these horrifying events. To prevent any more tragedies from happening in the future, people must act towards state governments to improve regulations on human rights.

The years before 1994 were seen as “dress rehearsals.” It is during 1994 when the Hutus start the extreme horror in which they call the “final solution.” The leaders of Rwanda led a group of death squads to help with their planned violence to keep Rwanda from moderation. The Zero Network and the Bullets group were examples of the “death squads” that helped with many massacres. Radio also helped the “final solution to be achieved, spreading the words of massacres and preparing the ground for slaughter. On April 6, President Habyarimana’s plane was shot down over Kigali and crashed with the new President of Burundi and some of Habyarimana’s top advisers. There were no survivors. (Gourevitch 94-110) Hutu militia, interhamwe, or “those who stand together,” killed leaders of Hutu and Tutsi moderate political parties, including those from the transitional government. This was 2 hours after the plane crashed with the President inside. (Appiah & Gates 1652) The killings during 1994 were extreme. Paul Rusesabagina, a hotel owner, walked outside and saw all of his neighbors killed. He survived because he bargained his life for $500. Foreign journalists experienced gangs with blood-dripping machetes and clubs. They saw a Red Cross

In 1994 in Rwanda a genocide occurred. This tragic event resulted in the deaths of up to one million people. Once the genocide was finally over, the legal system was overwhelmed. Too many people had participated in/ or contributed to the genocide, up to 120,000 were detained and accused. Another system needed to be created to try all of the accused and guilty, so the Gacaca system was created. The Gacaca is a traditional community court system. Judges are elected at the local level to hear trials. Many laws were passed to fight discrimination and preserve justice. Many believe that this was not the correct way to deal with the overflow of the accused. During the Gacaca trials many took it upon themselves to try each other for personal reasons

The radio was utilized to not only list the location of specific Tutsis to be targeted, but to also justify the genocide. Radio hosts discussed discrimination the Hutus suffered under the power of the Tutsis. Strong connotations describing Hutus as slaves during colonization painted the Rwandan genocide as a type of slave rebellion. Radio stories were used to anger the Hutus and channel that anger into action. Radio was also used to dehumanize Tutsis by calling them “cockroaches,” making acts of violence against them seem less inhumane.

Rwanda is a small country in Africa, made up of three ethnic groups: the Hutus, who held the majority of the population; the Tutsis were only a small portion of the population; and there were also very few Twa. All three groups spoke Kinyarwanda. There were differences in the appearances of the Hutus and Tutsis, so that made it easy to identify their ethnicity. Tutsis were identified as light-skinned and tall, while Hutus were darker-skinned and short. Although there were more Hutus, the Tutsis were in control. (“Rwanda genocide of 1994”)

Nations should respond to crimes against humanity as a harsh crime. When a villain like person robs a bank of does an illegal act the justice system always acts immediately and gives them the appropriate punishment. But lots of times people within a nation get away with doing multiple hate crimes and Crimes Against Humanity and nobody does anything, they just sit ideally by. One example of a Crime Against Humanity is the crisis that happened in Rwanda with the Tutsis and the Thnus. Another example of a Crime Against Humanity is what happened in Nanking during the second World War. One more example is the Holocaust in Germany also during the second World War. These acts and more are great examples of Crimes Against Humanity that went unrecognized and Nations that did not have a proper punishment for their crimes.