More Subjects
Research Paper
[Name of the Writer]
[Name of the Institution]
Rwandan Genocide
Introduction
The Rwandan Genocide also known as a genocide against the Tutsi, is one of the most severe ethnic conficts in history. The event was a mass slaughter of the Tutsi by Hutu militias in a country called Rwanda, which occurred from the 7th of April to the 15th of July in the year 1994, during a civil war in Rwandan. The genocide was actually designed by members of the Hutu Political Elite. A number of positions were occupied at the top levels of national government. There are a number of historians who believe that genocide was planned a year ago. The assassination of the president of Rwanda, Juvenal Habyarimana occurred on April 6, 1994, and it paved the way for the genocide. Many historians affirm that the genocidal killings were initiated the day the political leaders and military stakeholders were assassinated. However, the attack created a picture of sheer brutality that ensured a timeline of fear and shock everywhere. An analysis of the occurrence reveals that a number of victims were killed in their homes and in their villages, and many of them were killed when they were gone to visit their neighbors and other fellow villagers. (Joseph, et, al. 2018). Hutu gangs searched for the victims who were hidden in different localities in order to defend themselves in churches and school buildings. It is estimated that about 500,000 to about 1,000,000 Rwandans were killed and almost 70% of the Tutsi population was tormented. About 250,000 to 500,000 women were raped during this genocide. In a nutshell, it can be asserted that genocide has a profound and long-lasting impact on the inhabitants of the country, as well as those of the neighboring countries. Even today, two public holidays are announced in order to mourn the genocide, asserting historic revisionism and remembrance of the event as a criminal offense. (Joseph, et, al. 2018).
Discussion
According to different historians and social activists it is asserted that the Rwandan Genocide is actually an event that laid the foundation of a new paradigm, as the assassination of President Juvenal Habyarimana was not the only cause, in fact, there was a long battle between the Hutu and Tutsi tribes. According to Terry George, the first ethnic division between the two ethnic groups arose in 1931, when Rwandan law began while mandating that individuals must carry their ethnic identification cards at all times. It is highlighted that there are two prominent issues to address within the whole event. (Simpson, et, al. 2019). One of these issues is the analysis of the stakeholders and authorities who were engaged in the event and genocide. It was the reaction of the leaders, which enabled the wanton killing and destruction witnessed during the genocide, because it was a preplanned event and there was no analysis of the facts and figures. Another issue is the depiction of violence that is portrayed in the form of effect and impression. A number of people who were victims of the Rwandan genocide belonged to villages and they were killed because of lame reasons such as the moderate outlook of the Tutsi political affairs. It is apparant that personal vendettas lead those individuals to the height of destruction. A number of instances have highlighted that there was a tracking down and killing of Tutsi people that caused an emotional set back on old friends, colleagues and neighbors. The assissinators should be accused because of aiding the Tutsi people in escape and to conspire against the national party asserting that there was no proof of the individuals who are murdered. (Simpson, et, al. 2019).
Anthropologist’s View
According to Jean Damascene Gasanabo, the genocide against the Tutsi was actually a planned event, taking into account the success of the perpetrators. It is asserted that neither the roving bands of Hutu Farmers nor the Hutu militias could exterminate the Tutsis just like the Nazis could not exterminate the Jews. According to Gacaca, the responsibility of the conflict lies on the shoulder of each of the habitants, as well as individuals who were currently living in the village. The officials estimate highlight that about 85% of the population, making 7 million Rwandans were engaged in the scenario. It is significant to note that about 3% of the Hutus were involved, both indirectly and directly and it makes up about 200,000 perpetrators. Other Hutus had nothing to do with the event and genocide. There were a number of Hutus who tried to contact the authorities in order to address the happenings and they were openly against the killing of the people. However, it is asserted that the overall population can be classified as both the protestors and promoters. (Simpson, et, al. 2019). Those who were against the killing of others were also murdered and some of them even attempted to alert the International Community but none of the demands of the people were honored. It is signified that the Rwandan Civil War made the things worse but at the same time, it was a cause due to which genocide was eventually stopped when the RPF (Railway Protection Force) won the war that it was waging against the FAR (Federal Acquisition Regulation) of the genocidal regime. MRND (National Revolutionary Movement of Development) is the actual director because it worked in accordance with its will and did whatever was supportive in making it win the election. The followers of this plan were extremists by nature, and they disguised their rhetoric under so called freedom of speech that spread dangerous ideas to the local population. The catch line highlights that Tutsi are the enemies of the country and they should be eliminated in order to maintain peace within Rwanda. They killed the president a part of their plan and during the next 100 days after his assassination, none of the Tutsi was actually spared, they were being killed as enemies of the country. (Simpson, et, al. 2019).
Sociological Perspective
According to the perspective of the international community, it is highlighted that there is another justification of Rwandans Commemorate that was meant against Tutsi minority. According to the United Nations it is acknowledged that the incident was a huge failure to intervene adequately. When the genocide began, there was an already implanted peacemaker in the country. The United Nation Secretary prevented his troops from getting themselves engaged in the whole scenario. Over the course of about 100 days, 800,000 Rwandans mainly Tutsis were murdered by the Hutu Matias. Two months before genocide, there had been a lot of investigation regarding the actions of the international community and it is asserted that a lot of warnings were given for the genocide. (Donà, et, al. 2019). The head of United Nation Assistance Mission for Rwanda, Jacques Roger Booh Booh sent a cable to the headquarters of the United Nations in the New York, in which he highlighted that security situation is actually deteriorating on a daily basis and regular intervals, along with an increase in violent demonstrations, assassination attempts and nightly grenade attacks along with ethnic and political killings. The telegram was one of the indications that the incident was going to be catastrophic in nature and it was brewing Rwanda. The United Nation mission was actually on the ground since the end of 1993. The soldiers delivered numerous reports of the attacks on Tutsis along with the initiation of secret training camps and weapon stockpiles. According to Kinda Melvern, the Belgian government was very well aware of the happening in Rwanda, the president talked to the US and UK diplomat at the United Nation to reinforce the timeline of mission that was getting pathetic and ineffectual to peacekeeping when mandates were made for Rwanda. The United Nation peacekeepers were actually powerless and they were unable to address the peace conditions. It is also highlighted that when the genocide broke out, there were around 3000 Tutsis who sought safety at the base of a Belgium contingent in Kigali. When 10 commandos were killed, Belgium decided to pull the troops out of country and Tutsis were left with no occupation and a number of them were killed and slaughtered on the hillside called Nyanza. Many of the people think Nyanza is actually a failure of the international community where it is a description of the bankruptcy of whole humanity and mankind. (Donà, et, al. 2019). The International Troops in Rwanda were allowed to evacuate the foreigners only with the directions of commander of UNAMIR (The United Nations Assistance Mission for Rwanda). Canadian Lt General Romeo Dallaire made efforts for seeking permission to deploy the troops in order to stop killing but he was completely refused. The most pathetic fact is, Western politicians refrained from describing the events in Rwanda as genocide, in fact, they termed it as a “Tribal War”. In a nutshell, it is highlighted that the Rwanda incident was actually a failure because about 800,000 were threatened and killed. (Simpson, et, al. 2019).
A report from African Studies Quarterly has inferred that the genocide of 1994 is commonly accepted and it is termed as an event that is used to propose solutions to inhumane act that horrifies historical contexts of the country. According to him, the Rwanda incident is a framework of variant ideologies. “Recognizing Genocide" is an ideology that affirms that the attack was actually a pre-planned action with certain well-defined objectives. It is significant to note that Organization of African Unity accused the United Nation of applying a double standard by reducing the number of troops and cutting their strength in Rwanda taking into account the strengthening involvement of Yugoslavia. Although a call for international support was to be sent on 28 April, still all the appeals in terms of genocidal slaughter were deconned. (Donà, et, al. 2019). The European coalition of the non-governmental organization also termed as Eurostep was recognized and identified as the cause of slaughtering of people. A series of vigils were organized by the nongovernmental organizations with an aim to drew and drift attention of the secretary general but unfortunately, the International Committee of the Red Cross termed it as a casual event. The International Committee asserted that the timeline of the world is plagued with such events and there is nothing new in it. It is just a massacre that can be forgotten very soon. Although the Secretary-General of the United Nations and the Red Cross identifies the tragedies and the ratio of deaths, still it was treated as diplomacy “as usual”. Rwanda Genocide is classified as an “extraordinary intervention” that was having unexpected displacement that was hard for the analysts to observe. Although everyone was willing to admit the slaughter of civilians as a serious issue, no one was willing to take steps ahead. The ambassador to Rwanda and the assistant secretary of the state of human rights and humanitarians traveled to the place of genocide and analyzed the event but there was no outcome. The travelingof delegations , accompanied by the visit of French Ambassador was more like a mobilization to the neighbors of African Government so that they can put pressure on the political parties but there was nothing practical. It is asserted that the poor Nigerian also tried to approach the Nigerian representatives but the process of conveying information was slow so the implementation of the actions was also bleak. (Donà, et, al. 2019). It was not unusual for the United Nation but it was a specified case for the genocide because there were a number of political reasons that highlight the significance of this event as planned destruction for the people.
Political Framework
Another point of view has highlighted that the genocide in Rwanda is more like a newly created post of the United Nations. In accordance with the request of various national governments and other non-governmental organizations, the interim government was allowed for the evacuation of growing concerns of death and demolition in Rwanda. It is asserted that the conflict can be traced back to an international inconvenience because initially, the United Nation refused to discuss the case of Rwanda in open session, in fact, it was directed to an emergency session on the direction of Canadian representatives. (Joseph, et, al. 2018). Although there were a number of statements from the United States and France who spoke of the genocide but the final resolution did not take any notice of the event and it was named as a rapporteur in order to investigate if the genocide has taken place or not This statement was more like a shock for the people because the initial reporting was denied and a delegation was designed to analyze the genocide in terms of its occurrence. After a series of events of analysis and verification, it was highlighted that Kantian Habimana declared that their international community had traced that there is nothing efficient that is done to punish the slaughterers and no one was convicted. In fact, it was concluded, “So for Rwanda, they cannot say anything that will worry us, let us continue to do our work and fight against the Inyenzi-Inkoyanyi that initiated the combat and killed more than one million people". (Joseph, et, al. 2018).
According to another source of information, the Rwanda Genocide is more like an event that has strong racial background. number of justification are given such as, the victims to murder were chosen on the basis of their ethnicity. It is inferred that the ambition behind the attack was the return of Tutsi refugees and to enforce Rwandan government for the inclusion of Tutsis in political decisions. It is asserted that the underlying basis of the massacre was to incorporate the ideologies that are in favor of Tutsi so that they can be given due position in both social and political paradigms of the country. (Joseph, et, al. 2018).
Conclusion
Rwanda Genocide, apparently an ethical incident is analyzed from different point of views. Different perspective highlight that there are a number of dimensions and causes of the conflict ranging from a pre-planned event to a sudden explosion of human misconduct that hampered the existing platform of the ethnicity. Others think it is a political action where United Nations played a significant role in concentrating the demolition and attack. It is also asserted that the genocide is referred to as a geographical conflict because of diversification while others think that the genocide is a social accident having its root in ethnicity because the populations belonging to different ethnic background where “they don’t belong to us” was a major catchline. In a nutshell, there are a number of perspectives each with its validity and strong argumentation. Whatever reasons are given for the genocide, it was an incident that shook the basis of humanity and human existence and the loss is also mourned today.
References
Donà, G. (2019). Rwanda 1994: genocide in the “Land of a Thousand Hills”.
Joseph, S. (2018). After the genocide in Rwanda: Humanistic perspectives on social processes of post-conflict posttraumatic growth. The Humanistic Psychologist.
Simpson, P. A. (2019). Art from Trauma: Genocide and Healing Beyond Rwanda. University of Nebraska Press.
More Subjects
Join our mailing list
© All Rights Reserved 2024