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Rwanda
The UN's role in the Rwanda genocide
The Rwandan genocide took place during a civil war that nearly destroyed the poor, African nation. The civil conflict was waged between two ethnic groups known as the Tutsis and Hutu. An estimated 800,000 people were killed, mostly Tutsi, and the hands of the ethnic Hutu (UN admits Rwanda genocide failure, 2000, BBC). Initially, the UN had assumed some responsibility for attempting to keep the peace during what was supposed to be a transition to a power-sharing government between the rival factions. The UN mission (UNAMIR) "created in October 1993 to keep the peace and assist the governmental transition in Rwanda, sought to intervene between the killers and civilians. It also tried to mediate between the [pro-Tutsi] RPF [Rwandan Patriotic Front] and the [pro-Hutu] Rwandan army after the RPF struck from Rwanda to protect Tutsi and rescue their battalion encamped in Kigali as part of the Accord" (Ferroggiaro 2001). However, after ten Belgium soldiers were killed, the United Nations Security Council voted to withdraw...
"The Security Council took this vote and others concerning Rwanda even as the representative of the genocidal regime sat amongst them as a non-permanent member" (Ferroggiaro 2001).
As stories in the media about the carnage continued to mount, the UN changed course and created a new, more moderate force in the form of UNAMIR II, with 5,500 troops (Ferroggiaro 2001). But because of delays and foot-dragging, this effort did not materialize until the end of the genocide. "Faced with the UN's delay, but also concerned about its image as a former patron and arms supplier of the Habyarimana [genocidal] regime, France announced on June 15 that it would intervene to stop the killing...the French set up a 'humanitarian zone' in the southwest corner of Rwanda. Their intervention succeeded in saving tens of thousands of Tutsi lives; it also facilitated the safe exit of many of the genocide's plotters, who were allies of the French" (Ferroggiaro 2001). Only the takeover of the capital by…
References
UN admits Rwanda genocide failure. (2000). BBC. Retrieved December 7, 2011 at http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/714025.stm
Ferroggiaro, William. (2001). The U.S. And the genocide in Rwanda 1994: Evidence of inaction.
National Security Archive. Retrieved December 7, 2011 at http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB53/index.html
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