Rwanda Genocide
The Rwandan Genocide was the systematic murder of the Rwanda 's Tutsi minority and the moderates of its Hutu majority, in 1994. This was both the bloodiest period of the Rwandan Civil War and one of the worst genocides of the 1990s. With the preliminary implementation of the Arusha Accords, the Tutsi rebels and Hutu regime were able to agree to a cease-fire, and further negotiations were underway. The diplomatic efforts to end the conflict were at first thought to be successful, yet even with the MRND and RPF (political wing of the RPA) in talks, certain Hutu factions, like the CDR, were against any agreement for cooperation between the regime, and the rebels, to end Rwanda 's ethnic and economic troubles and progress towards a stable nationhood. The genocide was primarily the action of two extremist Hutu militias, the Interahamwe (military wing of the MRND) and the Impuzamugambi (military wing of the CDR), against dissenters to their Hutu extremism. Over the course of about 100 days, from April 6 to mid-July, at least 800,000 Tutsis and thousands of Hutus were killed during the genocide.[1] Some estimates put the death toll around the 800,000 and 1,000,000 marks.[2]
With the genocide, and the resurgence in the civil war, Rwanda 's conflict was thought by the United Nations to be too difficult and volatile for it to handle. Eventually, the Tutsi rebels successfully brought the country under their control and overthrew the Hutu regime. Hundreds of thousands of Hutu refugees fled across the borders, mainly west to Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo). The presence of the extreme Hutu factions on the border with Rwanda was the cause for the First and Second Congo Wars, with clashes between these groups and the RPF 's RPA, now part of a coalition force, even until today.[1] Rivalry between the Hutus and Tutsis is also central to the Burundian Civil War.
The UN 's neglect of the Rwandan Genocide, under comprehensive media coverage, drew severe
With the genocide, and the resurgence in the civil war, Rwanda 's conflict was thought by the United Nations to be too difficult and volatile for it to handle. Eventually, the Tutsi rebels successfully brought the country under their control and overthrew the Hutu regime. Hundreds of thousands of Hutu refugees fled across the borders, mainly west to Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo). The presence of the extreme Hutu factions on the border with Rwanda was the cause for the First and Second Congo Wars, with clashes between these groups and the RPF 's RPA, now part of a coalition force, even until today.[1] Rivalry between the Hutus and Tutsis is also central to the Burundian Civil War.
The UN 's neglect of the Rwandan Genocide, under comprehensive media coverage, drew severe
Bibliography: * The Shallow Graves of Rwanda (2001). An account by the author Shaharyan M. Khan. He writes this book from the point of view of a special UN representative. It chronicles the struggle for national reconicilliation and the role of the UN in the aftermath. * Surviving the Slaughter: The Ordeal of a Rwandan Refugee in Zaire (2004). An account by sociologist Marie Beatrice Umutesi, a Hutu often mistaken for a Tutsi, who was forced to flee into then-Zaire during the Rwandan Genocide. * Life Laid Bare: The Survivors in Rwanda Speak (2007). A collection of accounts in the same general region. Compiled by Jean Hatzfeld. * Eyewitness to a Genocide: The United Nations and Rwanda (2003). An account of and analysis of the international community 's response during the Rwandan genocide. * Leave None to Tell the Story: Genocide in Rwanda[1] (1999). A collection of primary and secondary accounts and analysis of the Rwandan genocide. * Do I still have a life? : voices from the aftermath of war in Rwanda and Burundi (2000). By John M. Janzen and Reinhild Kauenhoven Janzen.