Abstract

The aim of this study was to investigate how the Rwanda government was able to recover from the 1994 genocide in order to adopt the methods used into solving the ongoing crisis in Cameroon which is presently occurring particularly in the Anglophone regions.

The main research question is how did the Rwandan government recover from the 1994 genocide and how can it’s recovery help with the case of the ongoing crisis in Cameroon. The main objective is to investigate how the Rwandan government recovered from the genocide and how it can be of help with the case of the ongoing crisis in Cameroon

The main hypothesis which was analyzed is that the Rwandan government recovered from this genocide through the promotion Peace Consciousness, the introduction of a New Constitution, the National Unity and Reconciliation Commission and this can be of help to the government of Cameroon with regards to the ongoing crisis in Cameroon.

Data was obtained with the use of questionnaires. 100 questionnaires were administered where most respondents accepted with a ‘Yes’ to the questions and a lower percentage said ‘No’. The result gotten from the questionnaires enable me to analyse data and hypothesis.

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background to the Study

Rwanda genocide of 1994, planned campaign of mass murder in Rwanda that occurred over the course of some 100 days in April–July 1994. The genocide was conceived by extremist elements of Rwanda’s majority Hutu population who planned to kill the minority Tutsi population and anyone who opposed those genocidal intentions.

It is estimated that some 200,000 Hutu, spurred on by propaganda from various media outlets, participated in the genocide. More than 800,000 civilians—primarily Tutsi, but also moderate Hutu—were killed during the campaign. As many as 2,000,000 Rwandans fled the country during or immediately after the genocide.

Some Hutu began to demand equality and found sympathy from Roman Catholic clergy and some Belgian administrative personnel, which led to the Hutu revolution. The revolution began with an uprising on Nov. 1, 1959, when a rumour of the death of a Hutu leader at the hands of Tutsi perpetrators led groups of Hutu to launch attacks on the Tutsi. Months of violence followed, and many Tutsi were killed or fled the country.

A Hutu coup on Jan. 28, 1961, which was carried out with the tacit approval of the Belgian colonial authorities, officially deposed the Tutsi king (he was already out of the country, having fled the violence in 1960) and abolished the Tutsi monarchy. Rwanda became a republic, and an all-Hutu provisional national government came into being. Independence was proclaimed the next year.

Tension between Hutu and Tutsi flared again in 1990, when Tutsi-led Rwandan Patriotic Front (Front Patriotique Rwandais; FPR) rebels invaded from Uganda. A cease-fire was negotiated in early 1991, and negotiations between the FPR and the government of longtime president Juvénal Habyarimana, a Hutu, began in 1992.

An agreement between the FPR and the government, signed in August 1993 at Arusha, Tanz., called for the creation of a broad-based transition government that would include the FPR. Hutu extremists were strongly opposed to that plan. Dissemination of their anti-Tutsi agenda, which had already been widely propagated via newspapers and radio stations for a few years, increased and would later serve to fuel ethnic violence.

The Rwandan Civil War was a large-scale civil war in Rwanda which was fought between the Rwandan Armed Forces, representing the country’s government, and the rebel Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) from 1 October 1990 to 18 July 1994 when the RPF invaded the northeastern Rwanda. The war arose from the long-running dispute between the Hutu and Tutsi groups within the Rwandan population.

A 1959–1962 revolution had replaced the Tutsi monarchy with a Hutu-led republic, forcing more than 336,000 Tutsi to seek refuge in neighbouring countries. A group of these refugees in Uganda founded the RPF which, under the leadership of Fred Rwigyema and Paul Kagame, became a battle-ready army by the late 1980s.

An uneasy peace followed, during which the terms of the accords were gradually implemented. RPF troops were deployed to a compound in Kigali and the peace-keeping United Nations Assistance Mission for Rwanda (UNAMIR) was sent to the country. But the Hutu Power movement was steadily gaining influence and planned a “final solution” to exterminate the Tutsi.

This plan was put into action following the assassination of President Habyarimana on 6 April 1994. Over the course of about a hundred days, between 500,000 and 1,000,000 Tutsi and moderate Hutu were killed in the Rwandan genocide. The RPF quickly resumed the civil war. They captured territory steadily, encircling cities and cutting off supply routes.

By mid-June they had surrounded the capital, Kigali, and on 4 July they seized it. The war ended later that month when the RPF captured the last territory held by the interim government, forcing the government and genocidaires into Zaire and the victorious RPF assumed control of the country, with Paul Kagame as de facto leader.

Kagame served as vice president from 1994 and as president from 2000. The RPF began a programme of rebuilding the infrastructure and economy of the country, bringing genocide perpetrators to trial, and promoting reconciliation between Hutu and Tutsi. As of 2021, Kagame and the RPF remain the dominant political force in Rwanda.

The crisis in Cameroon is yet another legacy of European balkanization and colonization of Africa—dating back to the end of World War I. German colonies, including what is present-day Cameroon, were split up and shared between the Britain and France.

Southwest and Northwest Regions of present-day Cameroon form the English-speaking minority of a unified country whose central government is overwhelmingly dominated by those from the French-speaking regions. In the last year, activists have called for a re-split to form an independent country, English-speaking country they call Ambazonia. Cameroon’s government has declared the move illegal.

In the aftermath of this latest killings, Ambazonia activists on social media have been sharing videos and posts comparing the attacks to the 1994 Rwandan genocide and have called for swift international assistance.

The Secretary General of the Commonwealth, Patricia Scotland, has stepped in to mediate but the reports of rising violence haven’t stopped. Perhaps the most tangible effect of Baroness Scotland’s diplomatic overtures was the brief lifting of weeks of an internet blackout throughout the Anglophone regions when she visited in January.

1.2 Statement of the Problem

Most people take conflict for a fatality but Rwanda has showed a clear situation against this assertion as they have emerged the best in governance. Once the genocide was over, the country faced years of reconciliation and recovery. Trying those who were thought responsible for genocidal acts was a primary focus, as was promoting national unity and rebuilding the country’s economy.

Prosecuting the perpetrators. Those accused of participating in the genocide were primarily tried in one of three types of court systems: the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), Rwandan national courts, or local gacaca courts. Some suspects who had fled Rwanda were tried in the countries in which they were found.

Africa has been host to some of the most vicious conflicts with some spanning decades (Nyadera 1996:23). Indeed, postcolonial African states continue to experience the challenges of establishing single national identities largely due to the diverse nature of African societies and their colonial heritage that either exploited these differences or attempted to change the indigenous cultural identities.

As compared to Rwanda, Cameroon also faces a similar situation as per the ongoing Anglophone crisis. Competing colonial interests by the British and the French left legacies that continue to impact the country for more than a century later.

The Geneva Convention provides that even within a war situation, there are still rules to be followed where several human rights violations have been put on the head of the government forces and the belligerent forces as well. Armed forces are supposed to respect the rights of the civilians and preserve life and property of those not with arms.

1.3 Research Questions

1.3.1 Main Question:

1How did the Rwandan government recover from the 1994 genocide and how can it’s recovery help with the case of the ongoing crisis in Cameroon?

1.3.2 Specific Questions:

1. What were the causes of the 1994 genocide?
2. What were the consequences of the 1994 genocide?

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