The Rwandan Genocide and The Inaction of The International Community

Abstract

More than eighteen years have passed since the genocide in Rwanda took place. A genocide that killed definitely more than 500,000 Rwandans and led to the First Congo War and Mobutu’s “dethronement”. A genocide that the African Union called preventable.
This study focuses primarily on the preparations prior to the genocide, why and how the Rwandan elite chose to eliminate the Tutsi minority as well as Hutu moderates. It tackles the role of Belgian colonizers who imposed a system of rule through the Tutsi, while they discriminated the Hutu. The social order based on Tutsi supremacy was challenged by the 1959-61 Hutu revolution and the first Hutu government after independence in 1962. Tens of thousands of Tutsis fled the country during and after the revolution. The RPF was created in 1987 by the Tutsi refugee diaspora in Uganda, and invaded north-eastern Rwanda in 1990, but the offensive was shattered by Rwandan government troops. The two sides signed the Arusha Accords on power sharing in the Rwandan government in 1993 but Hutu extremists started planning a “Final Solution” instead. The killing of Rwandan president Habyarimana marked the beginning of a wave of well-planned attacks against Tutsi and moderate Hutu all over the country.
The article discusses the long-term effect of the genocide on Rwandan society. The paper also details the causes and consequences of UNAMIR’s failure in effectively addressing the events. A number of original documents and interviews help explain why the international community failed to act. By analyzing the intentions and motivation of Belgium, France and the United States one by one, the author tries to shed light on dilemmas of intervention and address the problem of the lack of political will.