Assess the view that the Rwandan Civil War was the main cause of the Rwandan Genocide
The Rwandan Genocide began to take place in 1993 when President Habyarimana signed an agreement, agreeing to power sharing, with the Tutsis in the town of Arusha in Tanzania, this signalled the end of the civil war. Rwanda is situated in Central Africa and covers approximately 24,668 square kilometres of land and 1,670 square kilometres of water, making it the 150th largest nation in the world with a total of area of 26,338 square kilometres As a result of this a UN mission was sent out to Rwanda to monitor the peace agreement. The first major event to happen, kicking off the genocide was the deaths of president Habyarimana and the Burundian president in
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Within 100 days of the genocide beginning roughly 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus were killed, the Hutu militias fled to Zaire and took with them around 2 million Hutu refugees. As a result of this happening the refugee camps in Zaire fell under the control of the Hutu militias that were responsible for the genocide in Rwanda. In 1995 the extremist Hutus and Zairean government forces attacked the local Zairean Banyamulenge Tutsis authorities in Zaire and attempted to force the Tutsi refugees back into Rwanda. Following this the UN appointed an international tribunal that begin to charge and sentence a good majority of people responsible for the atrocities. It is up for discussion as to why the genocide was allowed to happen, I have narrowed it down into three predominant main themes; the previous civil war within Rwanda; the ethnic tensions between the Hutus and the Tutsis and finally how the genocide was dealt with internationally. I would argue that the most …show more content…
As the genocide was beginning to be reported via the media, the Security Council supplied around 5,000 troops to provide a strong force. However the delay and denial of recommendations stopped the force from getting there on time and they arrived months after the genocide had ended. In the events that developed after the genocide, many of the government officials in the communities mourned over the losses of many and were surprised about the world’s obliviousness to the situation that could have prevented the massacre from taking place. The Rwandan genocide didn’t interest the world in the same way the Yugoslavian genocide did. The outbreak in Rwanda were not viewed as of significant interest and value to warrant prevention of the violence, expense of resources or the risk of losing more casualties. This delay caused thousands of Rwandan lives to be lost and mentally and psychologically scared millions of those who live on to tell the