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Bystander to Genocide: Failure in Rwanda

Explore the tragic events in Rwanda from colonial legacy to the 1994 genocide, dissecting key moments like the Arusha Accords and international responses. Analyze actions taken, missed opportunities, and lessons learned for future prevention efforts.

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Bystander to Genocide: Failure in Rwanda

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  1. BYSTANDER TO GENOCIDE -INTERNATIONAL FAILURE IN RWANDA- Leo Pascault and Trine Futtrup

  2. TUTSIS AND HUTUS • Peaceful cohabitation • Socio-economic titles def. In relation to the Tutsi Monarch • 1916: Belgian colonisation • 'Hamiatic' superioty of Tutsis → Favoured over Hutus. “If your inclusion or exclusion from regime or rights or entitlements , as defined by law, then this become a central defining fact for you the individual and your group.”

  3. CIVIL WAR BREAKS OUT • 1959: Hutu riots result in killing of 20.000 Tutsis • Wave of refugees (Burundi, Tanzania, Uganda) • 1962: Independence under Hutu government. • 1973: Military Coup by Hutu leader Juvenal Habyarimana • 1987: Rwandan Political Front (RPF) forms. • Oct '90: Tutsi invasion of North.

  4. THE ARUSHA ACCORDS • The Arusha accords (August 4, 1993): - Ends civil war between RPF (Tutsi) and Rwandan Defense Forces (Hutu) - Establishes ceasefire and a Broad-Based Transitional Government • UN supervision (UNAMIR)

  5. UNAMIR (OCT.5th 1993) • Resolution 872: United Nations Assistance Mission for Rwanda • Main objectives: monitor • Implementation of the ceasefire • Movement twd. transitional gov. • Method: 1,458 troops (I)~2548 troops (II)* • US condition: peace implementation progress keeping costs under control.

  6. RESOLUTION 909(5thapril 1994) • Topic: 6 month extension of UNAMIR mandate? • US: withdrawal unless immediate action • Council: time and resource argument. • Decision: 6 weeks or withdrawal.

  7. 100 DAYS OF GENOCIDE • April 6: The presidential airplane Habyarimana is shot down (by Hutu extremists?) • Killings of Tutsis start the very same day • April 7: PM and 10 belgian soldiers killed • April 10: Westerners rescued from Rwanda • Genocide extends to whole country by end of April ”We had two French military officers who helped train the Interahamwe[3]. […] The French military taught us how to catch people and tie them. […] I saw the French show Interahamwe how to throw knives and how to assemble and disassemble guns.”

  8. EXECUTIONERS OF THE GENOCIDE • All layers of society • State institutions • Interahamwe +Impuzamugambi: paramilitary groups with no uniforms • Execution of PM Uwilingiyimana & 10 Belgian Soldiers • RTLM: genocidal radio station. Tracked path of fleeing Hutus. • Were the Arusha accords indirectly responsible for the genocide?

  9. WAS RWANDA A GENOCIDE? • The Convention of the Prevention and the Punishement of the Crime of Genocide (1948) • Article 2 defines a genocide as any of the “following acts committed with intent to destroy in whole or in part, a national, racial or religious group, as such: (a) Killing members of the group; (b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; (c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; (d) Imposing measures intented to prevent births within the group; (e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.”

  10. ACTION TAKEN BY THE IC

  11. International community • Misinterpretation of the situation >< bad faith? • UN secretary general's report • Resolution 912 (April 22, 1994) • UNAMIR forces are reduced to 270 soldiers • The shadow of Somalia • Sacrifying western soldiers'life to save Tutsis? • Presidential Decision Directive 25

  12. NEW STANCE: UNAMIR(II) • Secretary General's criticism + offer of troops from African states → Resolution 925 unanimously passed on June 8th. • Objective: protect civilians support for humanitarian relief • Method: 5,500 troops • Issues: action required massive media reports on killings securing equipment to enable troops to deploy

  13. OPERATION TURQUOISE • 22 June 1994: Resolution 929: allowed France to set up humanitarian mission to protect Tutsis • French motives: humanitarian mission or Francafrique? • The Humanitarian Safe Zone • Provided security to Tutsi refugees, government officials and Hutu perpetrators

  14. ACTION THAT SHOULD HAVE BEEN TAKEN

  15. Action that should have been taken • Involve Hutu extremists in the Arusha peace proces • Change of mandate and extra resources for UNAMIR. • Employ UNAMIR faster • Inaction of the UN: 9 months to intervene preventively before the killings started • Favoring of Western lives over Rwandan ones • Troops could have saved Rwandan lives as well. • Extended interpretation of article 39: threat to peace • Reference to chapter VII and genocide convention • Responsibility of the Clinton administration • Media coverage • Use of the term genocide

  16. A FAILURE OF RESPONSIBILITY • The Responsibility to Protect • Ghost of Rwanda • A failure to...Prevent, react, rebuild? • “The task is not to find alternatives to the Security Council as a source of authority,but to make the Security Council work better than it has.” • “The SC should deal promptly with any request for authority to intervene... It should in this context seek adequate verification of facts or conditions on the ground that might support a military intervention.”

  17. RWANDA TODAY

  18. POST-GENOCIDE RWANDA • Population: 11.6m (430.64/sq. km) • Birth rate: 4.60 children/woman • 42.6% of the population is aged 0-14y. • Life expectancy: 47.3years • Head of State: Paul Kagame (RPF) • Disproportionate power representation • GDP: US$6bn • 8.8% growth/year

  19. THE MARK OF GENOCIDE • Presence of genocide • Prisoner population: 115,000 in jails and cachots(2002). • Memorials • No history lessons since 1994 • Poverty and population pressure • Public discourse: genocide terminology • refugees, returnees, victims, survivors and perpetrators

  20. NATIONAL RECONCILIATION • Public discourse: “We are all Banyarwandan” • Collective memory • NURC: National Unity and Reconciliation Comission (1999) • Gacaca courts (closed as of 12/06) • Conviction of 2,000,000 genocidaire

  21. INTERNATIONAL INITIATIVES • ICTR (1995): International tribunal based in Arusha. • Dec 2003: 10 detainees convicted. • 56 high-ranking officials and leaders incarcerated • Criticism • Ineffectivity of the International Court • Investigations of the RPF? • The unpopularity of the UN and the West in post-genocide Rwanda.

  22. EVALUATING RWANDA

  23. EVALUATING RWANDA

  24. OPERATION TURQUOISE • Supreme Humanitarian Emergency: O • Necessity/ Last resort: O/ Δ • Proportionality: X • Positive Humanitarian Outcome: O/ Δ • Humanitarian motive: X • Humanitarian justifications: Δ • Legality: O • Selectivity: X

  25. RESPONSE OFTHE IC? • Supreme Humanitarian Emergency: O • Necessity/ Last resort: O/X • Proportionality: X • Positive Humanitarian Outcome: X • Humanitarian motive: Δ/X • Humanitarian justifications: Δ/X • Legality: O • Selectivity: X

  26. Wheeler, N. “Saving Strangers: Humanitarian Intervention in International Society” (2003) Frontline. “Ghosts of Rwanda” (2005) Mamdani, M. “When Victims become Killers” (2002) Maritz, D. “Rwandan Genocide: Failure of the International Community?”(2012) http://www.e-ir.info/2012/04/07/rwandan-genocide-failure-of-the-international-community/ WORKS CITED

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