The UN/US should have stepped in to help the Tutsis at some point, or never backed out. The few people left in Rwanda were able to save thousands of people, and if more troops were sent they would have been able to save thousands more. When individuals challenged the Interahamwe and asked Col. Bagasora, the Interahamwe leader, to let some people live he let them live. What would have happened if entire governments challenged them? The UN/US tried to make the excuse that this was not genocide, that the definition was unclear. However, in Rwanda Hutus were killing Tutsis with machetes which clearly falls under a) killing members of the group and c)…destruction in whole, in the genocide definition that all UN nations signed and agreed to. The UN/US also said they could not reach the people to get them out even if they wanted to. If that was the case, then how Mbaye Djang was able to help thousands escape the country, and they got all foreigners and diplomats out of Rwanda, even without the use of an airport? The video above shows a clip from Ghosts of Rwanda of foreigners being rescued from Rwanda right before the massacres start. Lastly, the UN/US claimed they did not know he scale of atrocities going on in Rwanda. However, the forces that had remained in Rwanda had clear contact with the US government, who clearly knew what was going on. The US, and maybe other countries, saw no political value to their country in Rwanda, so they abandoned the Tutsis and Hutus moral rights as people. After the Holocaust, people all over the world said “never again” but then why did the Rwandan Genocide occur with no resistance? The video below has an in depth summary of the Rwandan genocide, and focuses on the UN/US denial of the genocide.
Good article. I really like how you touched on the lack of aid in Rwanda. It's amazing when you think of how small an amount of help was needed to significantly change the outcome of genocide. People like Captain Mbaye or General Dallaire singalhandedly saved hundreds of lives, and most of the time never even used a weapon. If the US or any other nation could have simply sent 1,000 men to help, the genocide might have been almost stopped completely.
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