The American Government 's Response to The Rwandan Genocide
The United States often have an had interest in the political, social and civil crises of other countries in order to benefit themselves. American senior officials hid the truth of the Rwanda Genocide to avoid public moral obligation. The government did not give any financial or political support to the country because Rwanda did not offer minerals or political advantages and stability; the US ' government did not want to be involved in another conflict, even though it has helped other countries in the past.1 But what is truly deeper hidden, are the stories of people like Immacule, a young girl, who, unlike thousands of others, survived the catastrophic genocide in Rwanda.
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According to Richard N. Hass the war had clearly negative impact on US ' policy, when he states that7 "[The war] has clearly absorbed a tremendous amount of U.S. military capacity, the result being that the United States has far less spare or available capacity, not just to use in the active sense, but to exploit it the diplomatic sense"(Richard Haass, Haass: On Balance, Iraq War’s Impact on U.S. Foreign Policy ‘Clearly Negative’). The government has given support in the war in Iraq, as one of the many examples. This action gave the U.S. a bad image, consequently generating more conflicts. But behind all of this; millions of innocents suffer. While others should be thankful to "have freedom" and "been born birds"8. It is unacceptable what many "are doing to ourselves" (Immaculee 75). The way that mankind looks at less developed countries should be re-evaluated, specially at countries in Africa. The smaller amount of worldwide political powers should not classify a country as worth helping …show more content…
10 Mc Des Forges believes that "[U.S. senior officials] feared [the word genocide] would generate public opinion which would demand some sort of action they did [not] want to act"(Rory Carroll, "US Chose to Ignore Rwandan Genocide)11. But something couldn 't be hidden; "the evil things that they 'd done to many innocent souls" (Immaculée 92). By hiding the reality in the African country from the press and consequently, the people, the government also hid the main reason why it did not
C. Introduction The Rwandan genocide lasted three months and in those three months it is said that 1 million Tutsis were killed. The Holocaust lasted 4 years and 6 million Jews were killed. Bearing this in mind it would be expected that The Rwandan genocide should be extremely well known because of the loss of lives, impact and brutality of the event and the similarities it holds with The Holocaust. The fact is that the Rwandan Genocide is not very well known and is not thought to be in the same category as The Holocaust, where in fact it is.
leaders, and U.N. officials that the U.S. ulti- mately could have done a lot more to help the genocide in Rwanda. Power has most definitely impacted my thinking and views on this topic as I did not realize the U.S. had such an immense role in the genocide of Rwanda. This assignment has provided me with an interesting insight and that is, I did not realize how effective evidence and the use of appeals would help an argumenta- tive piece of writing so much. Davami 4 Work
The unacceptable decision to neglect, and the failure to intervene and terminate, the Rwandan Genocide, falling into a trap of indifference, only led to continued genocidal violence. The world must overcome this indifference, because “to be indifferent to that suffering is what makes the human being inhuman… in denying their humanity, we betray our own” (Wiesel 2). Therefore, the international community has an obligation to take action and help the Congolese, to prevent ignorance towards future annihilations; this responsibility falls upon the world not only because the growing
The year 1994 was the beginning of one of the worst genocides this world has ever experienced. The result of this Rwandan genocide was 800 000 casualties and millions of refugees. Naomi Benaron's novel, Running The Rift, clearly demonstrates the various roles that the medias took in contributing to the magnification of tension between the Hutus and Tutsis. While the Rwandan regional government led radio stations and newspapers dehumanized those that suffered, the international media provided very minimal coverage of the horrendous massacre. Moreover, during the genocide, local Hutu radio stations broadcasted carefully depicted plans to execute the killings against the Tutsi minority.
The University of Minnesota, Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies https://cla.umn.edu/chgs/holocaust-genocide-education/resource-guides/rwanda. Accessed 23 March 2023. “Rwandan Genocide - Facts, Response & Trials - History.” History.com,
It was like no one cared about millions of people getting slaughtered. After WWII people has said never again. Well it happened again, no one did anything about it. For that the US and UN should have at least said some kind of sorry. President at the time, Bill Clinton, actually went to Rwanda to apologize.
Terry George aims no less than to demonstrate the Rwandese reality through the extremely violent and cruel scenes in the movie, he manages to convince the audience that really, over 800,000 people were in fact killed in no more than 100 days and more than 2 million refugees had to seek shelter elsewhere in the world (1). To begin with, it is important to understand the root causes of the conflict between Tutsis and Hutus to in turn understand the genocide demonstrated in the movie. Rwanda was
“An in-depth analysis on effects of Imperialism on Rwanda” Nowadays, European countries such as England, France, Germany, Belgium, and many other countries possess a colossal clout throughout the world. It is an impeccable fact that such countries, indeed, have served as a rudiment pivot and step for the world to be advanced to the point where we are since the Industrial Revolution. Such countries, because of it, without a doubt, have a crucial status globally and become the superpower and commercial hub on our planet. On the back side of their gleaming growth, however, there is an invisible part left behind their luminous development: the Imperialism. The term “Imperialism” refers to a policy of extending a country’s authority and political clout by using its military forces and diplomacy.
War and genocide have historically been closely related and even described as Siamese twins. Genocide can occur without war but war cannot occur without some elements of genocide as the distinction between legitimate war and genocide is not clear. War is defined as an armed conflict between different nations or groups within a nation. Scholars who have studied the relationship between war and genocide have argued that they are one in the same. It is a very convincing argument especially when examining the UN Convention on genocide.
The Rwandan genocide was a mass murder of thousands of Tutsi people by the Hutu people, they were viciously killed and scared out of their country, partly due to the rumor that a Tutsi man ordered the death of the Rwandan President. To begin, from April to July 1994, members of the Hutu ethnic group in the East-Central African nation murdered 800,000 men, women, and children from the Tutsi ethnic group. During this period Hutu civilians were forced by military soldier and police officers to kill their neighbors, friends, and family (“10 facts About the Rwandan Genocide-Borgen”). Radio stations encouraged ordinary civilians to take part in the killings (“10 facts About the Rwandan Genocide-Borgen”).
The Rwandan genocide vs. the Holocaust “Genocide is an attempt to exterminate a people, not to alter their behavior.” Jack Schwartz. Genocide is mass murder, it happens in all parts of the world. A common known genocide is the Holocaust. Where a group known as the“Nazis” (lead by Hitler) murdered more than six million people (many were Jewish).
Sadly, that term didn’t make a large enough dent into society, as we see with Darfur. Thank God, it has done some work though. As we see with the U.S, they, and surely other countries as well, have put thought into stopping genocide and putting the term “Never Again” in its place. “The United States is deeply concerned that, ten years after the outbreak of war in Darfur, the Darfuri people continue to suffer from increased insecurity, human rights abuses, and sexual violence… The United States strongly supports international efforts to bring peace, security, and humanitarian relief to the people of Darfur.
The genocide was an after affect of the scramble for Africa by European countries who help no regard for the people who already lived their. In the scramble for Africa many European countries raced to make claims on land in Africa that was already lived on by natives, they mistreated the natives and killed and enslaved many of them. This was prevalent in Rwanda when the belgians imperialized the land. The belgians sent the Hutus who were the majority of the population into slavery and lead to mass deaths of their people. But they lead the land through another ethnic group the tutsis who made up about 15% of the population compared to the 85% population of Hutus.
One cannot fight fire with fire. While massacre reigns in Rwanda and people take betrayal to the extreme, Paul Rusesabagina in his book, An Ordinary Man, proofs how violence is unnecessary while standing against the power of the word. As Rusesabagina states, words are “powerful tools of life”(Rusesabagina, 19). The war between the two different ethnic groups, Hutus and Tutsis, and the death of thousands left a mark Rwanda’s memory; the author says: “It is the darkest bead on our national necklace” (222). Even though a large part of Rwanda’s population is massacred, many are saved by one of Rwanda’s timeless heroes.
Events of the Rwandan Genocide was essentially ignored by the rest of the world, especially the United