Conflict, from the many forms it takes—religious, ideological, racial, etc.—it has always been a strong theme throughout human history. Its so prevalent one might say its part of human nature. Whether it is part of human nature or just a byproduct of it, one can’t deny that it can manifest in nefarious ways and cause horrible events to occur—genocide is one. Merriam-Webster defines genocide as “the deliberate killing of people who belong to a particular racial, political, or cultural group.” Some of the most infamous genocides include The Holocaust, Al-Anfal Genocide and the Rwandan Genocide. Due to the inaction of the international community, The Rwandan Genocide—a preventable event—is considered one of the greatest recent failures of international
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The most influential concern the international community held was created by the events that transpired in the First Battle of Mogadishu. The First Battle of Mogadishu was a US led attempt in Somalia to apprehend local warlord Mohamed Farrah Aidid that happened on October 3-4 1993 where 18 US soldiers were killed. The outcome of the First Battle of Mogadishu shaped foreign policy for the US and other countries. Because of that, many countries feared Rwanda would have the same outcome given how soon after the conflict in Rwanda started. There fears then somewhat proven when 10 Belgium peacekeepers were killed just one day into the genocide. Countries like the US was also concerned that the citizenry would not appreciate troops in Rwanda as images of dead troops from 3 months before were still in their heads as well as the conflict in Rwanda was underreported and downplayed by the media. However, even though the international community thought they were doing the correct thing on a political level at the time, they were not. It was not correct on a political nor an ethical level to stand by and not try to reduce civilian deaths in Rwanda. Allowing the slaughter of around 800,000 innocent civilians is ethically wrong, especially when intelligence agencies like the CIA were reporting that a mass killing of 500,000 people was imminent in Rwanda three months before the genocide. Also, the First Battle and the Rwandan Genocide were not similar events, had the international community supplied the correct items, troops and orders there would have been almost zero deaths on their
The most influential concern the international community held was created by the events that transpired in the First Battle of Mogadishu. The First Battle of Mogadishu was a US led attempt in Somalia to apprehend local warlord Mohamed Farrah Aidid that happened on October 3-4 1993 where 18 US soldiers were killed. The outcome of the First Battle of Mogadishu shaped foreign policy for the US and other countries. Because of that, many countries feared Rwanda would have the same outcome given how soon after the conflict in Rwanda started. There fears then somewhat proven when 10 Belgium peacekeepers were killed just one day into the genocide. Countries like the US was also concerned that the citizenry would not appreciate troops in Rwanda as images of dead troops from 3 months before were still in their heads as well as the conflict in Rwanda was underreported and downplayed by the media. However, even though the international community thought they were doing the correct thing on a political level at the time, they were not. It was not correct on a political nor an ethical level to stand by and not try to reduce civilian deaths in Rwanda. Allowing the slaughter of around 800,000 innocent civilians is ethically wrong, especially when intelligence agencies like the CIA were reporting that a mass killing of 500,000 people was imminent in Rwanda three months before the genocide. Also, the First Battle and the Rwandan Genocide were not similar events, had the international community supplied the correct items, troops and orders there would have been almost zero deaths on their