UN ignores genocide in Africa

Winnipeg Sun, Nov 3, 2007

KIGALI, RWANDA -- Countries in the West are not the only states questioning the effectiveness of international organizations in preventing human rights abuses.
In Rwanda, many people have a low opinion of the United Nations.
The most obvious reason for this is many feel the UN abandoned them during the genocide in 1994. One young man I met in Kigali said he recalls people pleading with UN personnel to help them leave the country as death squads started killing. This was before the UN packed up its operations after evacuating foreign nationals first.
The UNAMIR (UN Assistance Mission for Rwanda) was originally about 2,500 strong at the start of the genocide, but was reduced to 250 after the death of 10 Belgian soldiers. The international community then quibbled about who would pay for the mission as hundreds of thousands were killed, all the while avoiding the term "genocide" for fear of being required to act. The French would later send troops to establish a safe zone in the southwest.
Rwandans justifiably feel betrayed by the only organization that has a mandate to prevent human rights violations around the world. This one young man said many Rwandans feel the UN is about "spending money" and not much else. This is evident as the UN is still present in the country.
One wonders if domestic institutions are better suited to preventing genocide and promoting peace. It was, after all, the Rwandan Patriotic Front which stopped the genocide by pushing out those responsible for the killing, not the UN. Also effective are traditional Gcaca courts in Rwanda which identify and prosecute perpetrators of the genocide.
Rwanda has also established a National Unity and Reconciliation Commission which seems useful in restoring peace. However, time will tell if these efforts can stand the test of time.
After all, true ethnic peace can only be achieved through changed attitudes at the individual and community level, not through government programs.
The worst part of the situation is Rwandans are witnessing another failure on the part of international organizations to secure peace elsewhere in Africa.
Many are concerned about the unfolding humanitarian catastrophe in Darfur and interpret it as another genocide the world is allowing to continue.
I attended a student debate on the Darfur issue at the National University of Rwanda in Butare. To many young Rwandans, the issue is crystal clear. They see it as genocide. The Arab-dominated central government is assisting Arab militias in slaughtering Black Africans in Sudan, many of whom are Christian.
To them, the world's response is chillingly familiar to what they went through. While the semantics of genocide are being debated, thousands are killed.
One student, trained in law and politics, said it seems everyone has to be killed for a consensus to develop that it is genocide.
Rather than debate genocide without direct evidence, he argued, it would make sense to agree human rights violations are occurring and to act now before genocide can actually develop.
If only the world had followed that advice in Rwanda.