Rpf's Rapid Advance Across Rwanda example essay topic

War is not a necessary evil humans must endure. Although, war is not necessary, humans go to war to try to gain power, fortune, and to spread their particular group's religions and beliefs. By definition civilization is an advanced state of intellectual, cultural, and material development in human society, marked by progress in the arts and sciences, the extensive use of record-keeping, including writing, and the appearance of complex political and social institutions. The chaos of war is reflected in the semantic history of the word war.

War can be traced back to the Indo-European root were-, "to confuse, mix up". In the Germanic family of the Indo-European languages, this root gave rise to several words having to do with confusion or mixture of various kinds. War is a state of open, armed, often prolonged conflict carried on between nations, states, or parties. The most widely used excuse to go to war is to progress civilization. To progress, is to advance toward a higher or better stage; as of a society or civilization. Burundi and Rwanda went to war with each other because of the "need" for a class of people to be looked at as the "dominant race / class".

On April 6, 1994, Rwandan President Juvenal Habyarimana's personal plane, a gift from French president Francois Mitterand, was shot down as it returned to Rwanda, killing Habyarimana, Burundian president Cyprien Ntarymira, and members of their entourages. In this tense climate, the assassination of Habyarimana was an act akin to throwing a match on kerosene. The events surrounding the assassination itself remain obscure, with theories abounding as to what party was responsible. The most likely scenario suggests that Hutu militants arranged the President's death, which they required as a pretext for mass murder.

These two president's were on their way back from Tanzania. In August 1993, at Arusha in Tanzania, a new comprehensive accord was concluded between Habyarimana and the RPF. A coalition government was promised, featuring a Hutu Prime Minister, and a 21 member cabinet with five Tutsi. Habyarimana was about to try to implement a power sharing, Arusha Accord in his government with the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF)... To do so, however, would mean the effective end of his 20-year, one-party rule over Rwandan politics and society. Extremists in the military and government bitterly opposed the accord; they are the likely culprits in his assassination.

Within an hour of the plane crash, the Presidential Guard, elements of the Rwandan armed forces and extremist militia had set up roadblocks. They also had begun organized slaughter, starting in the capital Kigali. They had killed nearly one million Rwandans in 100 days time. The first people to be killed were those most likely to resist the plan of genocide. Those people included the Prime Minister, the Pris dent of the constitutional court, priests, leaders of the Liberal Party, etc. Also, those who did not immediately join the comapaign, like the governor of the south, were removed from their political positions and some politicians were killed.

As the killing intensified, the international community deserted Rwanda. The US closed their eyes to the problems going on in Rwanda and Burundi because it did not affect them. Western nations landed troops in Rwanda or Burundi in the first week to evacuate their citizens, did so, and left. The UN mission (UNAMIR), created in October 1993 to keep the peace and assist the governmental transition in Rwanda, sought to intervene between the killers and civilians. It also tried to mediate between the RPF and the Rwandan army after the RPF struck from Rwanda to protect Tutsi and rescue their battalion encamped in Kigali as part of the Accord.

On April 21, 1994, the United Nations Security Council, at the behest of the United States-which had no troops in Rwanda-Belgium, and others, voted to withdraw all but a remnant of UNAMIR. The Security Council took this vote and others concerning Rwanda even as the representative of the genocidal regime sat amongst them as a non-permanent member. After human rights, media, and diplomatic reports of the carnage mounted, the UN met and debated and finally arrived at a compromise response on May 16. UNAMIR II, as it was to be known, would be a more robust force of 5,500 troops. Again, however, the world failed to deliver, as the full complement of troops and materiel would not arrive in Rwanda until months after the genocide ended. Faced with the UN's delay, but also concerned about its image as a former patron and arms supplier of the Habyarimana regime, France announced on June 15 that it would intervene to stop the killing.

In a June 22 vote, the UN Security Council gave its blessing to this intervention; that same day, French troops entered Rwanda from Zaire. While intending a wider intervention, confronted with the RPF's rapid advance across Rwanda, the French set up a "humanitarian zone" in the southwest corner of Rwanda. Their intervention succeeded in saving tens of thousands of Tutsi lives; it also facilitated the safe exit of many of the genocide's plotters, who were allies of the French. On July 4, the RPF took the capital, Kigali; two weeks later, it announced a new government comprised of RPF leaders and ministers previously selected for the transition government called for in the Arusha Accord. With the RPF's takeover, and with the encouragement of extremist radio, Rwandans implicated in the slaughter, their relatives and those who feared the arrival of the RPF, fled to neighboring countries. In the end, the extremists killed nearly one million Rwandans, approximately one-tenth of the population.

Were it not for the RPF's military prowess, the genocide would have continued. Despite overwhelming evidence of genocide and knowledge as to its perpetrators, United States officials decided against taking a leading role in confronting the slaughter in Rwanda. Rather, US officials confined themselves to public statements, diplomatic demarches, initiatives for a ceasefire, and attempts to contact both the interim government perpetrating the killing and the RPF. The US did use its influence, however, at the United Nations, but did so to discourage a robust UN response (Document 4 and Document 13). In late July, however, with the evidence of genocide littering the ground in Rwanda, the US did launch substantial operations-again, in a supporting role-to assist humanitarian relief efforts for those displaced by the genocide. There are many positive and negative consequences of war.

There may even be too many to list. One of the advantages is that a people or society may be able to gain control / power which would allow them to improve their status in society; as in a Revolution. The main disadvantage is the loss in life. The loss of life in wars will be taken on both ends of the war. These lives are lost forever and sometimes these "wars" never end.