Tutsi Government example essay topic

The Crisis in Darfur, Sudan Genocide, the attempt to destroy a people because of their presumed race or ethnicity, remains alive and well. The definition of genocide as given in the Webster's Dictionary is "The deliberate and systematic extermination of a national, racial, political, or cultural group". This definition depicts the situation in 1994 of Rwanda, a small and poor central African country. What makes this crisis particularly shocking is the structural character of the violence: villages have been torched, and civilians have been deliberately targeted by bombing, summary executions, massacres and systematic rape as part of a strategy of fear instigated by the Sudanese military and the so-called Janjaweed, armed and supported by the government of Sudan.

The crisis in Darfur has therefore demanded both a humanitarian and a political response. The political response has consisted of increased pressure on the Sudanese government to disarm the Janjaweed, ensure security and allow aid agencies into Darfur to provide humanitarian aid. Humanitarian needs include food, shelter, water, health, sanitation and nutrition. But more than that, the structural violence against civilians means that there is an urgent need for protection, as systematic abuse, rape and displacement continue unabated. As international pressure on the Sudanese government led to improved access conditions during 2004, the humanitarian presence in Darfur increased significantly. By December 2004, approximately 55 international humanitarian organizations deploying an estimated 8,400 aid workers, nearly 900 of them internationals, were active in Darfur.

The front lines between Sudanese government and rebel forces, humanitarian presence has brought stability and tranquility as long as it has coincided with the disengagement of the warring parties. In Jebel Marra, for instance, the deployment of aid agencies was connected to guarantees from rebel forces to stay away from IDP locations and access roads, to avoid potential counter-attacks from government troops (ironically, but unintentionally, also serving the interests of government forces). To understand what is happening here let's go back to the history of Hutu and Tutsi in Rwanda and how the dominant group wants to control the minority groups. In the early 1900's, the Tutsi were placed in positions of power by Belgium, because they looked "whiter".

Governed by Belgium's racist way of thought, ethnic identity cards were introduced. The Catholic Church supported the Tutsi and the new social order and educated the Tutsi and imposed their religion on them. Though the population of Rwanda was ninety percent Hutu, they were denied land ownership, education, and positions of power. In the 1950's, the end of the colonial period, the Hutu overthrew the Tutsi government.

The Hutu maintained the practices of ethnic division, and the Tutsi were forcibly removed from positions of power. Many Tutsi fled from Rwanda and were not allowed to return. Many Tutsi that stayed in Rwanda were killed. Supported by Uganda, the Tutsi formed the Rwandan Patriotic Front, a rebel army. The rebel army was anxious to regain citizenship and their homes in Rwanda, and began a civil war that lasted four years. The world wide coffee market crashed, and coffee being the main export of Rwanda, led to unemployment and hunger of many Rwandans.

This, along with pressure from Belgium forced the Hutu to agree to share power with the Tutsi. This was a hoax, for the Hutu government was secretly planning revenge on the Tutsi. The revenge being planned was the extinction of the Tutsi. With help from Hutu extremists, hate propaganda, sub-humanization of Tutsi, firearms, and machetes were distributed among the Hutu citizens. The extremists assassinated the president for fear of giving in to the Rwandan Patriotic Front's demands. Through these elements necessary for genocide, the killing began on April 6, 1994.

The killing lasted for one hundred days. More than eight hundred thousand people were massacred, one third of the Tutsi population being wiped out. In Dafur the government-sponsored militias are killing, raping, beating and torturing innocent men, women and children. There have been 1.6 millions people displaced from their houses in Sudan at this time. From the text, if you read Race: Myth and Reality section on Page 212, it talks about ethnic cleansing, genocide etc. Killings in Dafur can be used as an example here along with that Myth and Reality.

This could be added to what Sociologist Louis Wirth defined as a minority group singled out for unequal treat and an object of collective discrimination. In conclusion, the crisis in Dafur deserves more attention. The main purpose is to prevent the abuse of civilians. To this end, it would perhaps be more effective to have fewer organizations with a larger response capability and capacity, rather than a multitude of small (and weakly-resourced) agencies, fragmenting the response. Many will argue that there were only two, true genocides in the twentieth century, of the Armenians, and of the Jews. This is a systematic planning to carry out the extermination of a people Work Cited Dr. Theophilus Oko sun, Professor JD, Northeastern Illinois University, Seb nem.

'Crisis in Sudan". Lecture; 10 May. 2005. Hens lin, James M. Essentials of Sociology. United States: Pearson, 2005.