The idea of a friend killing another friend only because he/she is of another race is unbelievable. The fact that it happened in Rwanda is simply incomprehensible. The biggest and hardest for me to understand is the fact that the people that killed the Tutsi were actually their neighbors, their friends, their priest, and their fellow countrymen. They weren’t strangers; they were the people that share social life and business with you. Yes, there were hate radios that affected the Hutu people to believe that Tutsi was not worthy of life and should be exterminate, but I would never have thought that it could mobilize an entire nation and made them killing machines. Most of the killing was done by Interahamwe, or basically, ordinary people. These people (as pictured in the movie Sometimes in April) were handed machetes by the militia and killed their own friends. It sounds ridiculous and yet it happened.
Why did they want to kill all Tutsi? From where I see it, it was because of their fear of losing power. That was the whole point of it. The Hutu extremist was threatened of the existence of Tutsi, even if they were the minority at that time, they had backups from RPF and they could’ve seize power. They were afraid that history would be repeated. Before, the Tutsi gain power after the colonization. But then, Hutu led a revolution and gain authority. Civil war makes them afraid that the Tutsi would always fight for command at could at some point take it from the Hutu.
Another point that bewildered me was the fact that the outside world looked away and did not try to help. The United Nations was made so there would be peace in the world, to protect everyone in the world. Yes, Rwanda did not have any real economic relationship with any nations, but wasn’t it moral obligation to help them?
I think there could’ve been action the United Nations could have done to stop the killings or at least reduce the damage.
1. Kill all the hate radios.
The main communication between the government and civilians was the hate radio. If the hate radio was dead at some point in the genocide, there would be chaos and the civilians would be confused to attack or not, was still being threatened or not, what should they do. At that time, I think the Tutsi would have a lot more chance to escape or seek a safe place to hide.
2. Threaten the chief commando.
In battles, if the commander is dead then the other side wins. I don’t see how Rwanda was different with a battle. The United Nations could’ve threatened to cut all relations with Rwanda if the killings don’t stop, or enforce the RPF to have a coup against the government. Better yet, capture the chief commando. Without the commander, the militias wouldn’t know what to do without orders. In the movie, one of the scenes was a congresswoman of USA talking to the chief commander of Rwandan military. That means that the outside world actually had communication with the Rwandan military. Yet, they did not do anything significant.
3. Evacuate Tutsi.
In the movie, one of the scenes was about how the UN evacuated expats and ignored the cries of the Rwandan people. Why not evacuate the Tutsis as well? The interahamwe would let the UN peacekeepers go, to not get any attention from the outside world. It would be impossible to evacuate all Tutsi, but it is possible for them to save some.
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