UN Peacekeeping Josh Hombrebueno

 Before the 1960’s, Rwanda was ruled by the country of Belgium  The Belgians favoured the ethnic group known as the “Tutsis”, who made up 15% of the nation’s population, because they looked more European than the other ethnic group known as the “Hutus”.  The nation became more independent in the 1960’s and had a general election where the Hutu’s won.  The Hutu’s wanted revenge on the Tutsi’s who treated them poorly for so long

 After the general election, the Hutu killed over 20,000 Tutsi’s and forced over 300,000 to flee into neighbouring countries  This lead to the formation of the Tutsi rebel army called the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF)  The RPF attempted to invade Rwanda but were stopped by President Habyarimana’s French allies  The Civil war that resulted produced millions of casualties and refugees  In 1994, a plane carrying the Rwandan president was shot down, causing the Hutu elite to use the attack to launch a genocide against the Tutsi’s

 In a span of three months in 1994, roughly 1 million Tutsi were killed, most of whom were civilians  Women and children were targeted in order to stop reproduction of the Tutsi’s  Genocide – The systematic and planned killing of an entire racial or ethnic group  As the genocide began, the UN was asked to assist in ending the genocide, but they didn’t feel it was a major crisis

 The UN’s first mission to Rwanda (UNAMIR) was set up only days after missions to Somalia ended  The mission had little support and it’s capacity was minimal  During the beginning of the Genocide, the United States repeatedly refused to increase the UN military presence in Rwanda  Canadian General Romeo Dallaire was the head of the UN Peacekeeping Force in Rwanda  The small number of peacemakers could do nothing to stop the slaughter

Below: General Romeo Dallaire Above: US Peacekeepers in Rwanda

 Romeo Dallaire sent a warning to the UN headquarters in 1994 explaining that the Hutu were planning to register the entire Tutsi population in order to exterminate them  This resulted in Dallaire requesting for 2,000 more men to be added to his force of 3,000 men, as he felt the slaughter could still be stopped  Instead of his numbers increasing, the UN cut his forces down to 500 men after 10 Belgian Peacekeepers were killed  The UN failed to act and respond quick enough to stop these killings and end the genocide

 Dallaire and his troops could do nothing but watch the most horrible act of genocide in history  The genocide is seen as a failure of the international communities to protect victims of violence  Many believe that if the UN made an effort to stop the genocide, it would have ended very quickly  After failing to stop the genocide, the UN, United States, Belgium, and the Church of England have all apologized