The Rwandan Genocide

A detailed Summary of The Rwandan Genocide


As an internationally recognized terror, the Rwandan Genocide was nothing more than an act of brutality and murder. During the months of April through June of 1994, an estimated 800,000 Tutsi countrymen were tortured and killed all due to a planned attack by the Hutu majority. It is hard to understand that this was internationally recognized and yet the U.S. and other western powers such as Belgium and France just stood by and ignored this act. In order to understand the decision-making process of these powers at the time, we must look at some recent history of the Rwandan relationships with these western powers.

The economy in Rwanda has essentially a subsistence economy. "The country suffers from soil erosion and occasional droughts and subsequent famines, making Rwanda heavily dependent on foreign assistance mainly from Belgium." (Rwanda History and Background) This raises a good question: Where was Belgium's assistance during the genocide? Did they hear the cry of the Tutsi's or did they just flat out ignore it? Rwanda also used Belgium, Kenya, France and Germany in order to gain imports such as fuels, motor vehicles, textiles and machinery. (Rwanda History and Background) The presence of these countries was the


In a testimony by a member of the Physicians for Human rights, a woman by the name of Holly Burkhalter testifies that "it is a fact of life that the larger the number of victims, the easier it is for the world to ignore them." Well, during the genocide, the U.S. did exactly that, ignored. They, as well as many other countries, knew what was going on in Rwanda and did nothing to stop it. Yet, the Clinton Administration felt as though they had to apologize for their actions when dealing with Rwanda. Their actions? What actions? Instead of apologizing for their actions, he should be apologizing for the lack of the actions they displayed. Burkhalter and her colleagues came up with a policy known as the "Genocide Prevention and Response" policy that laid guidelines down for the Clinton Administration to take action in the uprising of another genocide. Some of the codes that are contained in this policy are that the U.S. must act upon the event of genocide, for them to do what they must to prevent it from happening. Then if they are unable to do so, they must do all they can do in their power in order to keep the genocide from continuing, and if they can't do either, they must take responsibility for the genocide they were not able to control. (BosNet Article)

The decision-makers of the

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Category: History

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