BYSTANDER TO GENOCIDE-INTERNATIONAL FAILURE IN RWANDA-

Leo Pascault and Trine Futtrup

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.”

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.

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)

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.

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.

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.”

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?

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.”

ACTION TAKEN BY THE IC

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

NEW STANCE: UNAMIR(II) Secretary General's criticism + offer of troops from African

states → Resolution 925 unanimously passed on June 8th.

Objective: protect civilianssupport for humanitarian relief

Method: 5,500 troops

Issues: action required massive media reports on killings

securing equipment to enable troops to deploy

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

ACTION THAT SHOULD HAVE BEEN TAKEN

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

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.”

RWANDA TODAY

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

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

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

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.

EVALUATING RWANDA

EVALUATING RWANDA

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

RESPONSE OF THE 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

WORKS CITEDWheeler, 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/