Abandoning Rwanda: The International Community’s Failure to Prevent and Stop Genocide

Itt technical institute

Abandoning Rwanda:

The International Community’s Failure to Prevent and Stop Genocide

Samantha Putterbaugh

3/4/2010

The following research paper is a Causal Analysis of the 1994 Genocide in Rwanda. The paper discusses the history of the peoples of Rwanda, the cause of the Genocide and the response of the world. The paper provides significant evidence of the Western World’s lack of action to prevent and stop this major catastrophe from happening.

Samantha Putterbaugh
March 4, 2010
Research Project

Professor Cummins
Composition I
Thursday PM

Abandoning Rwanda:

The International Community’s Failure to Prevent and Stop Genocide

            On April 6, 1994 a plane carrying the President of Rwanda, Juvenal Habyarimana and the President of Burundi, Cyprian Ntaryamira was mysteriously shot down triggering an event that would impact a nation. This signified the brutal start of genocide.  The genocide took place in Rwanda caused by years of generational animosity between the Hutu and Tutsi people. As all this was happening the world stood idly by while, during the course of 100 days, approximately “800,000 men, women and children were slaughtered.” (Power 1)

            To understand the tragedy that occurred we must first exam the causes. The people of Rwanda were made up of two ethnic tribes, the Hutu and the Tutsi. Prior to European colonialism the Hutu and Tutsi people lived without prejudice, sharing a common language, culture and religion. “The two groups were not entirely antagonistic toward each other, Tutsi and Hutus frequently intermarried.” (Campbell 71) However, when the first European colonizers arrived, they “employed nineteenth-century, social-Darwinist theories of racial superiority to treat the taller, slimmer, lighter-skinned Tutsi as superior to the shorter, thicker, darker Hutu.” (Campbell 72) As a result of this distinction the Tutsi were given preferential treatment over the Hutu. Over time, the Hutu developed resentment that was passed on from generation to generation, with each new generation becoming more restless. 

            In 1962, a Hutu-led guerrilla movement won independence from Belgium, which enabled them to purge the Tutsi from their government and military positions.  The newly formed Hutu-led government “systematically discriminated against the Tutsi, in a game of turnaround-is-fair-play,” (Campbell 72) which in the years to follow caused multiple ethnic massacres. As a result many Tutsi fled and became refuges in nearby countries, particularly Uganda.  The Tutsi in Uganda formed a resistance movement known as the Rwandan Patriotic Front or RPF, which invaded Northern Rwanda in October 1990 causing a civil war.  The Hutu government responded with Anti-Tutsi propaganda, in which “all Tutsi were denounced as alien filth”. (Campbell 73)  The Organization for African Unity got each side to agree to a cease fire which led to peace treaty negotiations.  In August 1993, a peace agreement was signed by both parties in Tanzania.

            The treaty signed in Tanzania received the attention of the United Nations Security Council, which authorized a peace keeping force known as the United Nations Assistance Mission for Rwanda (UNAMIR), led by Major General Romeo Dellaire.  The goal of UNAMIR was to help implement the peace agreement, however neither party was happy with the agreement but were tired of civil war, so the fighting ceased.  However, a Hutu-led militia known as the Interahamwe, were unhappy with the peace agreement. They planned to exterminate the entire Tutsi population “also those Hutu politicians [and citizens] supportive of the peace process.” (Power 3)  On April 6, 1994, the plane carrying the Presidents of Rwanda and Burundi was shot down which signified the start of the Interahamwe plan.

            The events of the actual genocide are numerous and brutal. “Most Tutsi were killed where they lived or worked or wherever they could be found, most often with machetes, axes, or clubs. In many cases, however, Tutsi were forced to flee into institutions for “sanctuary” such as churches, schools, and hospitals. Here they were often slaughtered en mass.” (Campbell 75) The weapons the Interahawme used were farm equipment and other primitive objects. The most violent and painful method was being slaughtered by machete. As a result many of the victims died slow and painful deaths.

The effect that these events had on the Western World was deplorable.  There was plenty of intelligence to support the probability of the genocide. One example was the “Dallaire fax”. As head of the UNAMIR he had been approached by an anonymous Hutu informant, high up in the Rwandan government. The informant communicated and described a rapid arming and training of the Interahamwe militia by the Hutu led goverment. However, Dellaire’s claims were dismissed because he was new to operating in Africa and many officials claimed he “didn’t know what he was talking about” (Power 5). An even earlier account dating back to 1993, “sent by United Nations peaces keepers and an independent collection of human rights organizations warned explicitly of a possible genocide”. (Power 4)

            During the actual events media coverage in the Western World provided substantial evidence of genocide.  In the United States, the Washington Post and New York Times had front page accounts of the events taking place in Rwanda over a two week period.  Additionally, on April 19, 1994 the Human Rights Watch had sources on the ground in Rwanda estimate the total dead at one hundred thousand. (Power 11)  The evidence proves that the UN and US officials’ claim of “we had no idea the violence was to this extent”, was utterly baseless. “President Clinton certainly could have known that genocide was under way, if he had wanted to know.” (Power 12)

            Another failure amongst the international community was by halting the use of the word ‘genocide’  instead they described the ongoing conflict as civil war or “‘acts of genocide’ citing a difficulty in determining the intent behind the mass killings, despite evidence to the contrary.” (Campbell 77)  The most famous use of the term ‘acts of genocide’ was used by State Department Spokesperson Christine Shelly during a June 10, 1994 exchange with Reuters correspondent Alan Elsner which is as follows: (Power 13)

Elsner:  How would you describe the events taking place in Rwanda?

Shelly:  Based on the evidence we have seen from observations on the ground, we have every reason to believe that acts of genocide have occurred in Rwanda.

                        Elsner:  What’s the difference between “acts of genocide” and “genocide”?

Shelly:  Well, I think the—as you know, there’s a legal definition of this … clearly not all of the killings that have taken place in Rwanda are killings to which you might apply that label … But as to the distinctions between the words, we’re trying to call what we have so far as best as we can; and based, again, on the evidence, we have every reason to believe that acts of genocide have occurred.

Elsner: How many acts of genocide does it take to make genocide?

                        Shelly:  Alan, that’s just not a question that I’m in a position to answer.

By reading the above quote it is clear that when the government was confronted with the question they didn’t want to be the ones to step up and say “genocide is occurring”.  Such a statement would imply that the United States and the United Nations would be legally bound to intervene in accordance with the Genocide Convention of 1948.

            Another display of international failure was the withdrawal of UN troops. Romeo Dallaire sent a request for additional peace keepers, however the request was denied by the UN because the “the United States opposed the idea of sending reinforcements no matter where they were from.” (Power 15) To further exasperate the situation the bodies of ten Belgium Soldiers were found which led to withdrawal of all Belgium peace keepers. After this event General Dallaire was left with 270 peace keepers for the entire country.  Most of the 270 peace keepers were unarmed and those that had guns were under strict orders to only shoot in self defense. This meant “the Rwandans were largely left alone by the international community”. (“Rwanda: How the genocide happened” par. 30)

            After one hundred days of inconceivable violence and hatred the RPF finally captured the capital city of Kiglai which caused the government to collapse and the RPF declared a ceasefire. The Interahamwe as well as two million Hutus fled to what is now known as the Democratic Republic of Congo. With the Interahamwe gone the RPF was able to assess all that had been done to their country. This included creating mass graves for the numerous bodies that were strewn about the country. It is estimated that 800,000 Tutsi and moderate Hutu men, women and children were slaughtered. (Power 1) In an effort to rebuild their country a new government was implemented with both Hutu and Tutsi leaders.

            In conclusion the genocide that took place in Rwanda devastated an entire country.  It is my opinion that this tragedy could have been prevented. The United States and the United Nations had substantial evidence prior to the genocide, which was not taken seriously. That even during the actual genocide and faced with eyewitness accounts, video and audio footage from Rwanda, the United States and the United Nations still took no action. After the Holocaust, the slogan “Never Again” was a promise that genocide would be prevent and stopped. The United States, United Nations and many other countries broke that promise. The Western World abandoned Rwanda. And it continues to abandon Dafur, Democratic Republic of Congo and so many other countries. Finally, my question for you is: When will “Never Again” be a promise we, the international community, keep?

Works Cited

BBC. “Rwanda: How the genocide happened” BBC NEWS: World: Africa18 Dec. 2008.
2 Feb. 2010 < http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/1288230.stm>

Campbell, Kenneth J. Genocide and the Global Village. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2001. Ebrary. ITT Technical Institute Virtual Library, Hilliard, OH 2 Feb. 2010 http://site.ebrary.com/lib/itttechlibrary/Doc?id=1002301&ppg=85

Power, Samantha. “Bystanders to Genocide” The Atlantic Monthly
Sep. 2001: 12+.