Rwanda: Genocide and Refugee Crisis Essay -- History Genocide Murder H

"How can I ever forget the scene where my husband was massacred right in my presence. It was a nightmare. It was a nightmare. I live through it every day and it is engraved forever in my memory.† During one April, not so long ago, the world sat back and watched as a turbulent political situation in central Africa turned into something the world will never be able to forget. 800,000 people murdered in just 100 days, 800,000 people needlessly slaughtered at the hands of extremists, 800,000 men, women, and children gone because of a more serious problem rooted in social prejudice and inequality, 800,000 killed in a genocide that the world could do nothing about until it was too late. Almost 50 years after the world pledged to never let anything like the holocaust occur again, the world had to watch as a genocide unfolded in Rwanda. Between April of 1994 and July of 1994 some 800,000 Tutsi and moderate Hutus were systematically killed as Rwanda fell into political despair and turmoil, leaving millions more as refugees struggling to put their lives back together in the aftermath of such horrific violence. The large number of people forced to flee the violence in 1994 not onl y created a massive refugee population in the surrounding countries of Zaire, Burundi, Tanzania, and Uganda, but the number of refugees within what is known as the Great Lakes region continue to cause political turmoil even today, almost eleven years after the genocide. This paper will focus specifically on the Rwandan refugees and their plight during the last ten years as a result of the genocide. In order to understand the reasons why the genocide occurred and created this refugee population the first section will give a brief overview to the poli... ...r Crossings: Return of Refugees, Identity, and Reconstruction in Rwanda." African Studies Review (1998): 17-28. <http://www.jstor.org>. Klinghoffer, Arthur J. The International Dimension of Genocide in Rwanda. New York: New York UP, 1998. Pottier, Johan. "Relief and Repatriation: Views by Rwandan Refugees; Lessons for Humanitarian Aid Workers." African Affairs (1996): 403-429. <http://www.jstor.org>. Smith, Charles D. "The Geopolitics of Rwandan Resettlement: Uganda and Tanzania." Issue: A Journal of Opinion (1995): 54-57. <http://www.jstor.org>. United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), The State of the World's Refugees: Fifty Years of Humanitarian Action. New York: Oxford UP, 2000. Waters, Tony. "Tutsi Social Identity in Contemporary Africa." The Journal of Modern African Studies (1995): 343-347. <http://www.jstor.org>. Rwanda: Genocide and Refugee Crisis Essay -- History Genocide Murder H "How can I ever forget the scene where my husband was massacred right in my presence. It was a nightmare. It was a nightmare. I live through it every day and it is engraved forever in my memory.† During one April, not so long ago, the world sat back and watched as a turbulent political situation in central Africa turned into something the world will never be able to forget. 800,000 people murdered in just 100 days, 800,000 people needlessly slaughtered at the hands of extremists, 800,000 men, women, and children gone because of a more serious problem rooted in social prejudice and inequality, 800,000 killed in a genocide that the world could do nothing about until it was too late. Almost 50 years after the world pledged to never let anything like the holocaust occur again, the world had to watch as a genocide unfolded in Rwanda. Between April of 1994 and July of 1994 some 800,000 Tutsi and moderate Hutus were systematically killed as Rwanda fell into political despair and turmoil, leaving millions more as refugees struggling to put their lives back together in the aftermath of such horrific violence. The large number of people forced to flee the violence in 1994 not onl y created a massive refugee population in the surrounding countries of Zaire, Burundi, Tanzania, and Uganda, but the number of refugees within what is known as the Great Lakes region continue to cause political turmoil even today, almost eleven years after the genocide. This paper will focus specifically on the Rwandan refugees and their plight during the last ten years as a result of the genocide. In order to understand the reasons why the genocide occurred and created this refugee population the first section will give a brief overview to the poli... ...r Crossings: Return of Refugees, Identity, and Reconstruction in Rwanda." African Studies Review (1998): 17-28. <http://www.jstor.org>. Klinghoffer, Arthur J. The International Dimension of Genocide in Rwanda. New York: New York UP, 1998. Pottier, Johan. "Relief and Repatriation: Views by Rwandan Refugees; Lessons for Humanitarian Aid Workers." African Affairs (1996): 403-429. <http://www.jstor.org>. Smith, Charles D. "The Geopolitics of Rwandan Resettlement: Uganda and Tanzania." Issue: A Journal of Opinion (1995): 54-57. <http://www.jstor.org>. United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), The State of the World's Refugees: Fifty Years of Humanitarian Action. New York: Oxford UP, 2000. Waters, Tony. "Tutsi Social Identity in Contemporary Africa." The Journal of Modern African Studies (1995): 343-347. <http://www.jstor.org>.