Due to the unfair and biased division brought up by the Belgium colonies, the Hutus had built up hatred and sense of revenge against the Tutsis, who had more privileges than they had in society. Often they were mistreated and were given less care and attention compared to the Tutsis who enjoyed every luxury and pleasure provided to them. This is why as soon as Rwanda gained independence from Belgium in 1961 (Frontline, N/A) they immediately brought down the Tutsi power and replaced it with a Hutu leader extremist Habyarimana, who believed it was time for the Hutus to take revenge against the Tutsis. Gradually, the Tutsis were the ones who were being discriminated by Hutus, which further increased the hostility between the two ethnicities. There would have been no genocide if there was no hatred from the beginning. If only the Belgium colonies did not come up with the prejudiced ethnic segregation, there would never have been violence in Rwanda in the first place. Rwanda before colonization was a very peaceful country consisting of people who believed in unity. (socialworker, 7.May.2004) However after the ruling of the Belgiums, Rwanda’s future had changed dramatically to a horrific scene of bloodshed and violence.
Besides the factor that triggered the genocide to happen, there was the international community who chose to ignore and worsen the situation. Three months before the genocide in 1994, the UN were given warnings that violence would take place in Rwanda. A fax from Dallaire, the man who was assigned by the UN to bring peace, was sent to them, requesting for troops and armed men to prevent any violent situations, however the UN refused with an excuse that it may have been a false alarm. (thirdworldtraveler, 2002) Moreover, the UN did not officially refer the violence happening in Rwanda as a genocide until 300 thousand people were killed, because they were obliged to interfere with any genocide that was happening around the world.(wcl.american, N/A) However, ever since the failure they suffered from the Somalian Incident, the UN no longer had the courage to interfere. Once the genocide broke out, the UN removed its peace keeping forces and only 450 soldiers remained in the country. This was a selfish act, because even a few thousand troops and men could have helped stopped 800 thousand lives being lost in the violence, but the UN chose to ignore the situation. Although UN secretary general Kofi-Annan made an apologizing speech expressing his sympathy and regret, people are indignant of how little the UN has done in order to stop the brutality in Rwanda.
Other Western countries around the world also chose not to help solve the problems in Rwanda. For example the president of USA - Clinton, refused to use their capacity of military invention simply because there was nothing in Rwanda that was worth the Americans fighting for. (wcl.american, N/A) As for the French, they were directly involved in the violence itself, and also openly supported the Hutu extremists (afrol, 6.Apr) by giving them weapons and used their international power to let Hutus enter Tutsi refuge camps that were set by the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) (newyorker, 8.Jan.2010), to murder them all. Within the refuge camps, another 50 thousand people have lost their lives. Evidently, some other western countries around the world were also part of the reason to the outbreak of the genocide. If any of the countries chose to help and interfere with the severe problem, at least not 800 thousand as many people would have died.
Although the Belgiums and the international community were the ones who caused and ignored the problem, the actual violence was carried out by the Rwandan people themselves. They were the ones who exacerbated the existing problems. The genocide was sparked by the death of the Rwanda president Habyarimana, when his plane shot down in April 1994. (wikipedia, 23.Jan.2010) Nobody was sure who was behind the attack, but within hours, a campaign of violence spread from Kigali throughout the whole country and did not subside until three months later. The victims were mainly the Tutsis and moderate Hutus including Rwanda’s prime minister Agathe (newyorker, 8.Jan.2010), who were against the idea of mass killing. Also, before the genocide, the Hutu extremists spread racist ideas against Tutsis through radio and hate propaganda, encouraging more and more people to join the violence. (wcl.american, N/A) Nevertheless, it is not the fault of innocent Rwandan people who were only angered and encouraged to bring up violence against their own race. It is the blame of the colonies who created the initial hatred and also the external countries who chose not only to ignore, but also to join and support the violence.
The horrifying massacre was put to an end by the leader of the RPF - Paul Kagame who overthrew the Hutu regime, and who is now also Rwanda’s president. However, even though thousands of people found guilty during the genocide were put to trial and jail, (trincoll, N/A) the ghosts of the victims continue to seek revenge and justice for their tragic death. Even today, Kagame is faced with severe economic, social and political problems caused by the genocide and is pressured to solve all these difficulties. However no matter how Kagame, or the UN tries to solve the aftermath problems, the blame of this dreadful genocide should go to the Belgian Colonies, the UN as well as some western countries, because there were the ones who initially brought up the racial discrimination, who chose to ignore the situation and also who supported the brutal violence.
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