Genocide in Rwanda and Burundi - Assignment Example

History and Political Science November 4. Genocide in Rwanda and Burondi Rwanda and Burondi are two countries in Africa that have been beleaguered by political intrigues and rivalries for many years. These rivalries caused hatreds and incessant killings of innocent people, men, women, and children. In recent terms, these killings are considered genocide. Genocide is a matter of concern of international peace keeping bodies, but to some extent, efforts failed. What triggered these events, and what have been done so far? An insight to the tribe’s differences is presented for better understanding of the warring factions. What is genocide? The term Genocide according to history books was unknown prior to 1994. It is a word formed by a Polish-Jewish lawyer describing the Nazi policies of systematic murder and the destruction of European Jews. It comes from the Greek word geno that means a race or tribe, and cide, a Latin word that means to kill. Accordingly, in coming up with this word, he thought of “a coordinated plan or action to destruct the foundations of the life of a national group, or annihilating the groups themselves”. He appealed this to the United Nations; thereafter, the United Nations considered “genocide” as an international crime. It is then defined by the UN as” “referring to violent crimes committed against groups with the intent to destroy the existence of the group. (US Holocaust Memorial Museum Updated 11 May 2012). Genocide, as an international crime includes any of the following action: acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such: (a) Killing members of the group; (b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; (c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; (d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group; (e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group. The crime of Genocide in Rwanda Politics and ambition started it all. The first conviction of Genocide was given in 1988 by the International Criminal Court for Rwanda to Jean-Paul Akayesu, a local President of Democratic Republican Movement. He was found guilty of charges against humanity for acts he made while being a mayor. Akayesu was sentenced to a life imprisonment. On this date too rape became an addendum to the list of genocide crimes. (US Holocaust Memorial Museum) Akayesu was the town Mayor of Taba from 1993 to 1994. Initially, he led the town peacefully, fostering the local economy, had control of the police, and a well respected man until a group of oppositionists started the turmoil. At first he was hesitant to join but was compelled to because he was afraid of opposition, and was also scared to lose his position. Since then, he was one among those who instigated violence, incited the people to join mass killings and turned the former quiet place into a scene of violence, rape, torture, and murder (US Holocaust Memorial Museum). Rwanda in 1994 has a population of seven million composed of three ethnic groups: the Hutus (85%), Tutsi, (14%) and Twa (1%). The United Human Rights Council reported that the Hutus extremists’ political group kept on blaming the Tutsi group for various reasons including: “the country’s increasing social, economic, and political pressures. Tutsi civilians were also accused of supporting a Tutsi-dominated rebel group, the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF). Through the use of propaganda and constant political maneuvering, Habyarimana, who was the president at the time, and his group increased divisions between Hutu and Tutsi by the end of 1992. The Hutu remembered past years of oppressive Tutsi rule, and many of them not only resented but also feared the minority.” But why should the Hutus have resentments to a minority group like Tutsi? First let us begin with the description of the past of the two warring tribes. Roseber, Jennifer, in her article on About.com. said, both tribes had a common distant past, both raising cattles for a living. The people who owned the most cattles were called Tutsi, and the rest are called Hutus. At that time, it was peaceful, and anybody can change categories by marriage or by cattle acquisition. Things came to change when the Europeans began its colonization and gave a racial division to the Tutsi and Hutu. The European colonizers favored the Tutsis because of their lightly colored skin and a taller built, so the Tutsis were given roles of responsibility. This racial division was further solidified with the arrival of Belgians who gave all leadership position to the Tutsi, thus upsetting the Hutus. When the Rwandans set a struggle for independence, the Belgians switched the status of the two tribes because of the impending revolution posed by the Hutus, a majority group, thereby making the Hutus in charge of the new government. This decision displeased the Tutsis; thus, animosity began Genocide episode A totalitarian form of government was practiced in 1973 under the rule of President Habyarimana, a Hutu that excluded Tutsi from participating. But on August 3, 1993, Hutus were infuriated when Habyarimana signed a proclamation allowing Tutsis to participate in the running of the government. News carried by BBC (18 December 2008) reported the incident that triggered genocide is the assassination of President Juvenal Habyrimana, on April 6, l974, when his plane was shot by a surface-to-air missile while he was returning from a summit meeting in Tanzania. Immediately, thereafter, the Hutu extremists launched their plan of wiping out the entire Tutsi population. Radio propaganda encouraged Hutu people to join the killings of their Tutsi neighbors, even offering food, money, and land. What followed next was the brutal rape of women, killing of people in great numbers. United Human Rights Council estimated 800,000 Tutsi men, women, and children were killed in the genocide in just a matter of 100 days. At the same time, there were also thousands of Hutus who died because they were against the merciless killings. Many fled and tried to escape the brutality and sought refuge in the neighboring places for their safety. These killings were done all because the elite group wanted to stay in power. They promoted fear and hatred just to keep their supremacy. They seized control of the government and used its authority to massacre the Tutsis. The civil war and genocide in Rwanda ended only when the Tutsi-dominated rebel group, the RPF, defeated the Hutu perpetrator, and a new president, Kagame, took control. Kagame, who was said to be the leader of the RPF, kept the blame for the plot of the assassination . Now, a change table occurred because there were renewed packets of killings of Hutus. Many of the Hutus, who were thought of as the persons behind the Tutsi massacre fled to Zaire (now the Republic of Congo). It was reported that the presence of Hutu militias in Congo, led to a conflict causing up to 5 million deaths. Meantime, peacekeeping efforts of the United Nations failed, and it seems Rwanda was left alone with its problems to settle. BBC reported (UN withdrawal of troops after 10 of their soldiers were killed. Even the UN community was adamant in the Rwandan situation. And on this end, the world’s largest peace-keeping force failed in its mission.(BBC, updated 18 December, 2008) The Burondi genocide Backgrounders from the Burondi genocide came from the US Institute of Peace, a Commission of Inquiry for Burundi Just like Rwanda, Burondi is beset by conflicts of the warring Tutsi and Hutu tribes. When this country gained its independence in 1962 and until its elections in 1993, the government was controlled by military dictators belonging to the Tutsi group. Disputes over land and power fueled ethnic conflict resulting to widespread violence and “ethnic cleansing” in 1965, 1972, 1988 and 1993-2003. In 1993, the first elected Burundi president who was a Hutu was assassinated by a group of Tutsi army officers, only a few months after his election. He was on a plane with Rwanda president who was also assassinated on the same plane. Immediately thereafter, killings began, Vengeance spread as Hutus killed Tutsis and Tutsi commands killing thousands of Hutus in return. The effect of Rwandan genocide also spread in Burondi, wherein killings had been more intense. This time, the international community was enlightened, made an inquiry and investigation on the killings of Ndadaye as well as the massacres and other serious violence that occurred after 1993. The Commission created for this concluded, after hearing 667 witnesses that an act of genocide was really committed, and that some members of the Front for democracy in Burondi was responsible, leaders in the community were involved in the crime; and that no effort was done by the authorities to control or punish those acts. The recommendations pushed by the Commission seem to favor Hutus, since it has recommended that the balance in the police and in the judiciary should be more in the representation of Hutu, because of its majority position. The Commission further concluded that they could not identify perpetrators by name, and so recommended an intense security be provided first in order to establish legal reforms. Further, the Commission deemed it proper to include in the investigation crimes committed before October 1993. Aftermath a. On the Burundi genocide The Inquiry Commission recommended the creation of a Truth Commission that will “prosecute those bearing the greatest responsibility for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes”. The long negotiations between the UN and the Burundi government led to the creation of a Steering Committee that will lead consultations on transitional justice. Although it was planned to start in 2007, consultations have yet to begin. The Organic Law 100/92 created on November 2007 grants “provisional impunity” to belligerents seem to be unclear. As to what is its scope is not clearly defined. b. On the Rwanda genocide. UN has admitted that its failure had left “deep wounds” that needed to be healed for the sake of the United nations and for the Rwandan people. However, deliberations took long and later on proved its failure to prevent genocide in Rwanda and hovered on its admission of responsibility of oversight in planning. The lack of direction of UN troops all the more added to tensions because of decisions of whether to withdraw or not from its agreements. It took the UN particularly a hard time whether to decide if the happenings in Rwanda were a case of genocide, although it was clear on television pictures of bloated figures on the river. Does the word really matter in times of crisis? Rwanda is a turning point in the peace keeping efforts of the UN, because after a while, they came to realize their lack of political will to commit to peacekeeping and to the fields. The enthusiasm of participating UN members declined due to resources and logistics problem UN report states. Today – status of cases Eighteen years after the mass killings, quest for justice for crimes committed in 1994 still continues. The International Criminal Tribunal Court for Rwanda has dealt with 89 cases, and has convicted only 59 cases so far.( Ottilia Anna Maunganidze, February 2012). But when one considers the injustices committed, the number of persecution is so small and the process is so long and tedious. Because of the considerable few numbers of persecuted cases, it is safe to conclude here, that there are still many perpetrators on the loose. Meanwhile according to Ottilia, the local courts are a big relief as they have already tried thousands of individual cases, but it was criticized as one sided because they pursued mostly Hutus. Many senior Hutus officials are in exile in other countries. Extradition requests were unsuccessful, so trials could not be done. Conclusion/comments The War between the two tribes has no victory, it plants hatred, brings poverty and loss of hope in justice among the people. It was also instrumental in spreading disease of HIV/AIDS in Africa. Poverty and disease are barriers for development that even the victorious army will have difficulty in solving. The ethnic wars between the two tribes had existed for many years because of many unresolved issues that stemmed from hatred. Their feelings are likened to what an unknown author said: “I don’t hate you, I just don’t like that you exist”. How can anyone resolve such feeling since “hate has created many problems in the world, but has not solved one yet”? The friction continues and it will take a gargantuan peace keeping effort so that same events will not happen again. As it is justice takes too long, and justice delayed is justice denied. Works cited BBC News. Rwanda: How the genocide happened. 18 December 2008. Accessed 01 November 2001. web Rosenberg, Jennifer. Rwanda Genocide. About.com. 20th Century History. Accessed 01 November 2012 web. US Holocaust Memorial Museum . Rwanda. The first conviction for genocide. Holocaust Encyclopedia. Updated 11 May 2012 . Accessed 01 November 2012. web. United Human Rights Council. Genocide in Rwanda. A committee of the American Youth Federation-Western United States. 2012. Accessed 01 November 2012. web United States Institute of Peace. Commission of Inquiry: Burundi. Accessed 01 November 2012. web Ottilia Anna Maunganidze. Rwanda’s New Genocide Cases a Milestone for Domestic Persecutions of International Crimes., Crime Division, ISS Pretoria February 9, 2012. Institute for Security Studies. Accessed 01 November 2012. web Read More