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Question: Genocde in Rwanda 1994!?
So basically most of my knowledge comes from the movie Hotel Rwanda, and I need to write an essay on it for class(how fun !!! not) anyway, I know the UN evacuated all international people and left only a tiny amount of people to protect Rwanda, even though tey couldn't actually fight or fire!.
Did the UN eventually come back and help or what!? Coz I remember some people took people behind Tutsi rebel lines with UN convoys!.
Basically, How did the UN respond to the events in Rwanda!.
Oh and yeah, what was the UN's decision like at the end!.Www@QuestionHome@Com
Best Answer - Chosen by Asker:
hello
at best the un's action, or rather the lack thereof , can only be summed up as being shameful
at the start of the troubles in rwanda, the peacekeeping efforts were
1!. Belgium was the last colonial power in Rwanda, and the United Nations Assistance Mission for Rwanda was initially mostly composed of Belgian soldiers, until they were withdrawn!.
(after 10 of their soldiers were murdered the withdrew as a result of negative public feelings in belgium)
2!.the United States refused to get involved as a result of their bitter experience in mogadishu / somalia
3!. France was interested in so far as being able to receive a mandate to evacuate their citizens , and would have got involved if they were placed in command of an international peace keeping force
- and whats interesting is that the hutu militias were trained and armed by french military advisors, and recently the rwandan govt have indicted the french president for war crimes (see the new york times http://www!.nytimes!.com/2008/08/06/world/!.!.!. )
4!. The Organization for African Unity (African countries) sent a neutral peace keeping mission that assisted no-one , and provided no meaningful support to the victims on the ground
5!. The United Nations Assistance Mission for Rwanda (UNAMIR) had a vague mandate, and no set protocols as to what actions were allowed to be taken, and after the murder of the belgian peacekeepers lost major world funding/support
- the few who remained (270 men) were totally powerless to stop the killings
- and in the time wasted trying to get the un to agree to intervention the mass killings occured
6!. Ghana - as peacekeepers
- physically handed over Rwandan chief justice (Joseph Kovaruganda) over to a Hutu death squad, then shared drinks with the killers while they assaulted Kovaruganda's wife and two young daughters
after the killings, apart from paying for memorials,and publically apologising !.!.!. the world did nothing
to quote martin luther king !.!.!. "when i die i shall not remember the words of my enemies, but the silence of my friends"
- we should be ashamed of ourselvesWww@QuestionHome@Com
For the first 100 days of the genocide, the UN stood by and did almost nothing while 800,000 Rwandans were killed!. Its troops were not authorized to use force, and even if they did, they were outnumbered!.
The genocide only really ended when the Tutsi RPF rebel force drove the Hutu forces out of most of the country!.Www@QuestionHome@Com