Rwanda Genocide Or Civil War Essay

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Rwanda: Genocide or Civil War?

The current state of affairs in Rwanda constitutes a catastrophe that never should have happened. Unfortunately, it has happened, but do the circumstances and outcomes warrant using the term "genocide"? Based on facts about the ethnic make up of Rwanda, there is abundant proof that this is actually a case of violent, ongoing civil wars, and the use of the term "genocide" is not justified.

The major crime problem in Rwanda since 1994 has been mass murder, officially know as genocide, which has been prevalent in this country in the mist of years of civil war. Genocide is defined as the methodically planned eradication of a racial, political, or cultural group. The United Nations (1998) has declared in the Convention on the Punishment and Prevention of the Crime of Genocide of 1946, that "genocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group…" (p. 1). Genocide represents a horror so special that the term has previously been used to described only two events in the twentieth century: the massacre of Armenians by Turks in 1915, and the Nazi Holocaust against the Jews. The United Nations (1998) stated that any "persons committing genocide or any of the other acts enumerated in article III shall be punished…"(2). The Convention on the Punishment and Prevention of the Crime of Genocide hammered out the statutes concerning genocide, which went into force January 12, 1951. These are still considered law. How or what the specific punishment is or should be is not defined in these articles. Since most members of the United Nations do not practice the death penalty, the most common punishment for genocide is life in prison without parole.

The population of Rwanda is estimated at 8,154,933 (Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), 1999, p.2). Rwanda is one of the most densely populated countries in Africa, with the approximate population density of 302 persons per square kilometer (Rwanda, 2000 p.1). A majority of Rwandans live in a rural setting. There are three main ethnic groups that make up the population: the Hutu (approximately 80 percent), the Tutsi (around 19 percent), noted as primarily farmers and cattle herders, and the Twa (1 percent), a pygmoid people thought to be the original inhabitants of the region (CIA, 1999, p.3).

The religions of Rwanda include Catholicism, Protestant, Islam, and other indigenous beliefs (Rwanda, 2000 p 1). "Most Rwandans live in round grass huts in farms scattered over the country's many hills. Family life is central to society" (Rwanda, 2000 p 1).

Rwanda is a landlocked, mountainous country in east central Africa. The neighboring countries include Uganda to the north, Tanzania to the east, Burundi to the south, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which borders Rwanda to the west (Rwanda, 2000 p.1). Rwanda is one of Africa's smallest countries, covering an area of only 10,169 square miles (Rwanda, 2000 p.1). The government of Rwanda is a multiparty democracy with a limited presidential term.

Agriculture, manufacturing, and trade compose the majority of the economy. Close to one half of the land is used for farming coffee, tea, beans, potatoes, sorghum, bananas, and livestock. The natural resources of Rwanda are reserves of gold, beryl, cassiterite (tin ore), wolframite (tungsten ore) and methane (natural gas). Due to the dense population with terrible poverty and tense ethnic composition, there have been pressures to boost exports to make up for the amounts of imported products need to survive. This puts a strain on the laborers of Rwanda to increase the amount of goods produced for export in order to pay for all the imports. According to the CIA (1999), 1998 records list the country of Rwanda debt was $1.2 billion (p. 7). The economic strain places the Tutsi and the Hutu at even greater level of hostility. This strain is due in part to the fact that the Hutu are the majority and are predominantly agriculturist. The Tutsi, on the other hand, are primarily cattle herders. In this society owning cattle is a symbol of superior status.

During their control, the Germans and then Belgians intensified inequality in order to more strictly control the colonies called Rwanda and Burundi. They made the Tutsi their surrogate through a system of indirect rule, and issued ethnic identity cards to solidify the differences. The Hutus on the other hand were denied any authoritative positions, which led to resentment that has contributed to the problems of today. After Rwanda gained independence from Belgium in 1962, the Hutu majority seized power, reversed the roles, and oppressed the Tutsis through well-organized discrimination and acts of injustice. A major conflict originated from a wave of violence from 1956 to 1966 when the Hutu overthrew the Tutsi monarchy, which had ruled for centuries (Goose , 1994, p.2). "The Tutsi king died, and the Hutu used the occasion to rise and kill thousands of Tutsi" (Feil, 1998, p. 43). The violence drove approximately 200,000 Tutsi out...

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