Rwandan Genocide

[craffles]

Having just watched the 2004 film Hotel Rwanda I thought I would start a thread to discuss this event which doesn't get a lot of western publicity as one of the most heinous acts of the 20th century.

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rwandan_Genocide

Would love to get a better understanding of these events so please use this thread as a forum to share thoughts, opinions, knowledge etc.

 

[craffles]

Personally for me the hardest pill to swallow of the whole conflict is the UN and subsequently UNAMIRS lack of intervention which could have saved thousands of Tutsi Rwandan lives.

 

[Bunk Moreland]

Staggering how little this is talked about.

 

[craffles]

Staggering how little this is talked about.

The fact that no one has replied validates my point. 800,000 lives lost in 4 months only 20 years ago.

Yet the anniversary of September 11 & Princess Diana's death is blasted everywhere each year. Developed countries really do live in their own bubble.

 

[Bunk Moreland]

The fact that no one has replied validates my point. 800,000 lives lost in 4 months only 20 years ago.

Yet the anniversary of September 11 & Princess Diana's death is blasted everywhere each year. Developed countries really do live in their own bubble.

Yes events in Africa don't really garner much attention on the world stage.

 

[hirdy_is_champ]

One white life is worth more than 100 black african ones. That's the media for you.
Thank you for reminding me about this film, I was going to watch it and never got around to it.

 

[TheWoodenSlug]

I remember 5 or 6 years ago as I was travelling through Europe I stumbled across a book (can't for the life of me remember what it was called - would love to read it again) in a hostel about the Rwandan genocide. I doubt I've read a book quicker than I finished that one - absolutely gripping and heartbreaking.

I recall at the time having similar thoughts as to those expressed in this thread - why the hell doesn't the slaughter of around 800,000 people in only a few months get more recognition? Everyone knows about the holocaust, but I reckon a fair percentage of people would know next to nothing about the atrocities in Rwanda, despite it being more recent and the rate of killing being far higher. Over the years, naive me has been replaced by a more cynical me, and I agree with the sentiments above as for the reason why it gets little to no recognition.

Also, I watched Hotel Rwanda years ago no and remember it as being a brilliant film.

 

[Herne Hill Hammer]

I was in the Navy at the time and had friends that served there.

The locals knew that we were hamstrung by the shite rules of engagement. They used to drag kids and women out in front of them and hack them up with machettes.

 

[craffles]

I was in the Navy at the time and had friends that served there.

The locals knew that we were hamstrung by the shite rules of engagement. They used to drag kids and women out in front of them and hack them up with machettes.

Wow. Thanks for sharing. I'm sure you have some pretty insightful experiences from your time in the navy

 

[Paul Kersey]

I was in the Navy at the time and had friends that served there.

The locals knew that we were hamstrung by the shite rules of engagement. They used to drag kids and women out in front of them and hack them up with machettes.

Stating the obvious but that is ****ed.

 

[Herne Hill Hammer]

Iirc, unless they were directly under attack, they weren't allowed to do anything.

Very high number of PTSD cases afterwards

Pissweak UN yet again.

 

[little graham]

I would suggest all posting in here watch this.

 

[craffles]

I would suggest all posting in here watch this.

Thanks for the link, will watch tonight

 

[_Mike_]

IMO people should watch this.. A far more telling story of General Dallair's struggle with the UN to do the job he was sent to do.

Its probably one of the most memorable movies of any accounts of war that I have watched.



After watching the movie I have a great deal of respect for that man.. I recommend people watch the full documentary which gives a pretty clear indication of how weak the UN was, and how its strings were pulled by the US

 

[little graham]

I and how its strings were pulled by the US

wherever there is troubles, they seem to be on the side of the protagonist, getting in the way of those who want end trouble.

Evidently, the population of the apparent victims of genocide was 500 thousand before the massacre and 200 thousand after the massacre.There was 1 million victims.

Do the math.

 

[_Mike_]

wherever there is troubles, they seem to be on the side of the protagonist, getting in the way of those who want end trouble.

Evidently, the population of the apparent victims of genocide was 500 thousand before the massacre and 200 thousand after the massacre.There was 1 million victims.
Do the math.

You rarely get an accurate count of casualties of war as the information is either lopsided towards a particular argument or the data is so misaligned its nothing but a guess at best. I think the truth behind the numbers is that they were rough estimates without foundation and back in the 90's the quality of data measurement in statistics for consensus data in Rwanda was poor (probably still is today)

In any case the UN contingent sent there under the command of Dellaire was nothing but a token show of involvement by the UN with no madate to do anything except "fly the flag"

 

[Moshie The Mook]

It was gruesome and shocking to see at the time. Very hard to stop genocide unless you are prepared to deploy thousands of ground troops and literally sweep the country, set up refugee camps, and generally take responsibility for the aftermath. Unless it involves a threat to national security such as a terrorist attack, or a problem with the oil supply, no one is coming. The yanks did intervene in Kosovo, but by that time the world was sick of the decade long atrocities in the balkans, and in many ways it was too late anyway.

 

[louismaxwell]

Who do you think armed, trained and supplied the rebels all those years? Easy way to stop the genocide, stop creating mercenary armies that carry it out.

Works everytime.

Oh hello, Rwanda was black on black butchering, don't go blaming anyone else but the guilty Hutu's. Stop making excuses for their shit behaviour, why is it everyone elses fault but not the perpetrators. Its up to the rwandan people to sort out the matter and get to the bottom on why their own people behaved in such a barbaric manner. Stop shifting blame from the guilty.

 

[Long Live HFC]

prisonplanet! ROFL.

 

[_Mike_]

Please keep on topic, by all means feel free to discuss the war crimes of the Balkan conflict, but not in this thread

 

[little graham]

Please keep on topic, by all means feel free to discuss the war crimes of the Balkan conflict, but not in this thread

Why not? This is the crime section and the Modus operandi of the protagonists in the Rwandan genocide is clearly shown with their record in that conflict.

 

[_Mike_]

Why not? This is the crime section and the Modus operandi of the protagonists in the Rwandan genocide is clearly shown with their record in that conflict.

Dont derail threads please, stay on topic.. Start a new thread on war crimes on the Balkan conflict to discuss that topic/issue

 

[Illinois Nazi]

Thread would be better in the History board anyway.

 

[Guardian Hawk]

Just for a little bit more info....

This conflict has not been limited to Rwanda or to the mid nineties unfortunately. In Burundi (in 1972), for example, the Tutsi Army started killing educated Hutus, military trained Hutus and then general civilians. Estimates place this genocide at around 200 000 people.

This shit continues today. In fact, I have a friend from the Eastern Congo (Tutsi) whose village was invaded by Hutu 'rebels'. He was beaten and tied to a tree with wire while his pregnant wife was brutally r*ped before having her limbs hacked off and then beheaded in front of him. His eldest children were also murdered. He was then tortured before being thrown into a 20 metre deep pit toilet to die.

Unfortunately this is not an isolated incident, occurred only a few years ago (2007) and he was one of the 'lucky' ones to survive.

 

[The Coup]

From something I read years ago there's a heightist component to the genocide?

One side is markedly taller than the others and sees the smaller people as sub human or something I guess? Kind of the reverse to what the Dinka go through in Sudan?