War Crimes And Genocide In Rwanda

I chose to write about the Rwandan Genocide, because I remember vividly the news accounts that broadcast images of its ravages during the 1990s. The conflict was identified as an ethnic conflict with very little context provided. Like most Western observers lacking knowledge of the history of the region, I saw the conflict as both complex and senseless. The course chapter on the Rwandan Genocide was very especially informative, and inspired my further study on the topic.

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.

In between 1930 and 1945, an event took place that changed the world in many ways. The Holocaust was a genocide that consisted of the decimation of one single race, the Jews. This solemn event is very similar (and also quite different) to another event that took place only four thousand miles away. Like the Holocaust, this event is was a genocide and it took place at Rwanda in 1994. This genocide was between the Hutus and Tutsis. These two groups have a long background with each other that consisted of civil wars, switches in power and superiority, and tension. It began when the Europeans put the Tutsis in a superior position because they were the ones that closely resembled them, the Europeans, in physical appearance. It was the death of

The author throws light on historical background of Rwanda which clarifies the circumstances that gave spark to the huge extermination of

Another issue that arose during the genocide that is important was the fact that during the genocide many women were raped while men were out on killing sprees. Many of those women who were raped contracted HIV/AIDS. The medicine to treat HIV/AIDS is too expensive for the people of Rwanda to afford, so many have died. Some of the women who were raped did not contract HIV/AIDS but still struggle due to having friends that contracted it or were impregnated and are now raising children of their rapists. Acquaro (2005) presents the example of Severa Mukakinani whose husband and seven children were murdered during the genocide. She was then raped and impregnated and is now raising a daughter named Marie Chantal Akimana meaning “child of God”. Even

You sit in your kitchen, shivering, hearing the bombs surround you. Fear covers any other thought in your mind, you don’t want to think of what is to come for you nor your family. The deliberate and systematic murdering of a group, a genocide, have made millions experience these very feelings. When every genocide starts, the days seem endless and the problem exacerbates. It’s not until the other countries and the victims work together that they can end what the perpetrators started, mass murderings. Yet the foreign countries still lack the will needed to help find a solution. People are scared of what will come if their countries contribute to helping, though the the phrase “never again” is always spoken among them. The only way for these

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.

These government orders reveal the ways that, even with the accessible knowledge about the Rwandan massacres being readily available, that the United States government was able to manipulate the situation as being contrary to their interests. Gourevitch outlines the ways that the West (and international government) failed to understand the ways that colonialism influenced the genocide as that would reflect negatively upon those nations as a further component of the way the violence was characterized.

Rape itself is a sensitive topic, although it was desensitized by the Hutu men after they raped approximately 250,000 women (Brysiewicz et al. 2). The genocide in Rwanda was devastating, causing problems with deeper roots than a normal war. Not only were there upwards of 1 million deaths, a whole community was destroyed and corrupted by HIV/AIDS. Rape was such a driving force of the genocide because the Tutsi women were sexually sweeter, and it allowed the community to feel destroyed (Brysiewicz et al. 3). Rape babies serve as constant reminder of the tragedy; the effects are everlasting and people slowly died from HIV/AIDS, as well as social isolation.

Often described as the most horrible and systematic human massacre since the Holocaust, the Rwandan Genocide has been a subject of research and debate for decades. Typically, ethnic and cultural differences between segments of Rwanda’s diverse population, namely the Hutu and the Tutsi, is the reason given to explain the genocide. Although this is a valid argument, the roots of the conflict are more complex stretching back to the era of colonialism. The impact of colonialism on Rwandan politics and society set the foundations for revolution in 1959 and, ultimately, genocide in 1994.

Between April and June 1994 warfare between the Hutus and Tutsis people struck in the East African country of Rwanda. To call it a tragedy would be an understatement when faced with the estimated death count of one million Tutsis and moderate Hutus over the span one hundred days. The genocide resulted from the desire to control and obtain power within Rwanda and stemmed from a history of cultural and social class conflict amongst the rival groups. This bloodshed proved to be one the most horrific events in history.

The absence within the literature of the central pillars and their composed themes creates problems when trying to address current and future contention between the international community and Rwanda. By relying largely on the genocide guilt card, issues important to Rwanda are sometimes either overlooked or plainly forgotten. The result is miscommunication and misunderstandings that complicate a delicate situation. For example is the previously mentioned debate on term limits for President Kagame. Despite the thesis not discussing the third term debate except for the mention in Chapter Two, it is an important event that will help continue the trend of how Rwanda views the actions and decisions by international actors.

INTRODUCTION After the atrocities suffered by the Jewish people at the hand of the Nazi regime, the United Nations formed the U.N. Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (UNCG), dedicated to the understanding and prevention of future genocides. The UNCG defines genocide as acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group. Genocides have occurred on almost every continent and the UNCG has had little impact on prevention. Indeed, 2since its creation in 1951 the world has seen a rise in genocides beginning in 1975 in Cambodia, followed by the horrors in Yugoslavia in 1992, then Rwanda in 1994, and the on-again-off-again atrocities in Darfur since 2003 (Maddox). The causes of each of these genocides are as unique as the topography of the land they occur on and as varied as the languages and cultures of the people involved. The genocide occurred in Rwanda in Central Africa between April 6, 1994 and July 1994. The decades of unjust treatment by Belgium favored the Tutsi tribe and the assassinations of the Rwandan president and Burundi president led to the genocide in Rwanda. CAUSES

out to be exploited in very violent manners. There were many conflicts that display this form of

It is disappointing that the history of Rwanda,..., may still repeat itself. I may not have the power or influence to stop this tragedy, but I am not going to sit idly by and watch another tragedy continue to unfold before my eyes” US House2 5). Genocide has been around for centuries and unfortunately countries such as Rwanda had to witness the atrocities of genocide. Unlike the holocaust, the Hutus main goal was to slaughter as many Tutsi as they could in as little as 100 days. It is equally important to remember those that suffered from this historical event will never forget it. The Rwandan genocide was a 100 day massacre that was started by the Hutu President’s place accident, which was blamed on the Tutsi from previous political disputes. All in all, the question still remains whether the Hutus shot their own president's plane down to start a war of massacre or if the Tutsi were really trying to regain