The death of the hundreds of thousands of Rwandan civilians is as much of the international community’s fault as the leaders of the genocide.
There is evidence indicating that the UN was forewarned of the mounting genocide in Rwanda. According to declassified French documents, France had been informed of the mounting genocide from at least January 1993, more than a year before the Rwandan Genocide. Despite knowing this, French president François Mitterrand supported the Hutu leaders, who was targeting the Tutsi even then. France helped to both fund and fuel the perpetrators, providing monetary aid, supplies, weapons, and military training. As Rwandan Hutu soldiers massacred Tutsi civilians, France troops merely stood by and watched. Some critics …show more content…
They shunned the word so that the government was not legally obliged to act under terms of the 1948 Genocide Convention (Power, 2001). Several leaders, including United States President Bill Clinton, insisted that they was unaware of what was happening in Rwanda. Despite this, the genocide was clearly visible. The attacks on the Tutsis were shown on the media starting on April 8th. The Washington Post ran a front page article on April 24th on how the rising number of victims in Rwanda was a reminder of the Holocaust (Power, 2001). Week after week, reports containing eye-witness accounts from Rwandans and expatriates with the International Committee for the Red Cross, Human Rights Watch, US Committee for Refugees, and other humanitarian aid groups were sent to the international community and governmental agencies. The reports clearly showed the degree of violence taking place in Rwanda, and made it apparent that the slaughter was not just random acts of violence but a genocide, meticulously organized by the political and military leaders of Rwanda. The reports also included steps the UN needed to take to rescue the countless number of lives that could still be saved. Yet, even with substantial evidence showing that a genocide was occurring, and the clear-cut ways the UN could save the lives of an untold number of Rwandans, the international community did nothing (The International Panel of Eminent Personalities,
There is evidence indicating that the UN was forewarned of the mounting genocide in Rwanda. According to declassified French documents, France had been informed of the mounting genocide from at least January 1993, more than a year before the Rwandan Genocide. Despite knowing this, French president François Mitterrand supported the Hutu leaders, who was targeting the Tutsi even then. France helped to both fund and fuel the perpetrators, providing monetary aid, supplies, weapons, and military training. As Rwandan Hutu soldiers massacred Tutsi civilians, France troops merely stood by and watched. Some critics …show more content…
They shunned the word so that the government was not legally obliged to act under terms of the 1948 Genocide Convention (Power, 2001). Several leaders, including United States President Bill Clinton, insisted that they was unaware of what was happening in Rwanda. Despite this, the genocide was clearly visible. The attacks on the Tutsis were shown on the media starting on April 8th. The Washington Post ran a front page article on April 24th on how the rising number of victims in Rwanda was a reminder of the Holocaust (Power, 2001). Week after week, reports containing eye-witness accounts from Rwandans and expatriates with the International Committee for the Red Cross, Human Rights Watch, US Committee for Refugees, and other humanitarian aid groups were sent to the international community and governmental agencies. The reports clearly showed the degree of violence taking place in Rwanda, and made it apparent that the slaughter was not just random acts of violence but a genocide, meticulously organized by the political and military leaders of Rwanda. The reports also included steps the UN needed to take to rescue the countless number of lives that could still be saved. Yet, even with substantial evidence showing that a genocide was occurring, and the clear-cut ways the UN could save the lives of an untold number of Rwandans, the international community did nothing (The International Panel of Eminent Personalities,