Rwandan Genocide

The Rwandan Genocide was the slaughter of an estimated 937,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus by a group of Hutu extremists known as Interahamwe during a period of 100 days in 1994.

Related Topics:
Tutsi - Hutu - Interahamwe - 1994

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For many, the Rwandan Genocide stands out as historically significant not only because of the sheer number of people that were murdered in such a short period of time, but also because of the way many Western countries responded to the atrocities. Despite intelligence provided before the killing began, and international news media coverage reflecting the true scale of violence as the genocide unfolded, virtually all first-world countries declined to intervene, and the United Nations refused to authorize its peacekeeping operation in Rwanda at the time, led by General Roméo Dallaire, to take positive action to bring the killing to a halt. This failure to act became the focus of bitter recriminations towards individual policymakers specifically, such as Jacques-Roger Booh-Booh, as well as the United Nations and countries such as France and the United States more generally and President Clinton specifically. Clinton was kept informed on a daily basis by his closest advisors and by the U.S. Embassy of Rwanda. Clinton was also advised by others close to him to "stay out of Rwanda" because of the possible political backlash similar to that which occurred just a year earlier in a failed attempt to help the country of Somalia.

Related Topics:
Rwanda - First-world - United Nations - General - Roméo Dallaire - Jacques-Roger Booh-Booh - France - United States - President Clinton - Somalia

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The genocide was brought to an end only when the Tutsi-dominated expatriate rebel movement known as the Rwandese Patriotic Front, led by Paul Kagame, overthrew the Hutu government and seized power. In the aftermath of the genocide, sporadic reprisals were often taken out against ethnic Hutus, causing hundreds of thousands to flee into eastern Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo). The violence and its memory continue to affect the country and the region. Both the First and Second Congo Wars trace their origins to the genocide, and it continues to be a reference point for the Burundian Civil War.

Related Topics:
Tutsi - Rwandese Patriotic Front - Paul Kagame - Zaire - Democratic Republic of the Congo - First - Second Congo War - Burundian Civil War

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