Compare the role of France and the United States in the Rwandan Essay

Compare the role of France and the United States in the Rwandan genocide and account for the differences you find - Essay Example In the year 1990, the Tutsi decided to strike back and the Rwandese Patriotic Front was formed, comprised of Tutsi refugees who launched attacks from Uganda. A cease fire was arranged through the intervention of the United Nations Observer Mission Uganda-Rwanda, and the terms agreed to were intended to improve ethnic participation and power sharing, allow refugees to return to their homes and create a multi party state (Gourevitch, 1999). However, the Hutus did not want to share power and commenced a media campaign via the radio station RTML, to mobilize ordinary Hutus against Tutsis, resulting in the eruption of genocidal activity. The Presidents of both Rwanda and Burundi were killed on April 6, 1994, and that night a series of mass murders resulted, with the Belgian peacekeeping forces helpless to intervene in the crisis due to their role as peace keepers.(Gourevitch, 1999). Ten Belgian soldiers who were assigned to protect the Hutu Prime Minister were murdered, and one week after the conflict erupted, Belgium withdrew all its troops. On 6th April, the large scale killing of Tutsis commenced and resulted in almost 800,000 people being killed over the short span of a few days, while the world looked on and did nothing. In summing up the reasons for the Rwandan genocide, Eltringham states that some view it as the result of â€Å"ethnic hatred†, others as a result of â€Å"bad politics and power struggle†, while yet others view it as the â€Å"direct outcome of colonial and neo imperialist manipulations†, and â€Å"economic frustrations†, but the truth may be that all these elements combined to play a role in the crisis. (Eltringham, 2004:xv). The occurrence of the genocide is a horrific event in recent human history, where thousands of innocent people died while the world stood by and did nothing. The United States is implicated for its role in the Rwanda genocide mostly through its