Understanding now, what had happened in Rwanda about 15 years ago, strikes an interest in many people to find
out why didn't the US get involved? Why didn't the UN take their troops out?
After reading this article by the NY times in 1994 about 2 weeks, i believe, after the genocide started, there
are many interesting points that help you understand why the UN and the US did not get involved. For instance
about 18 US troops were killed in Somalia, when the US was trying to "save" the country. So with the devastation and
the memory of the awful instance in Somalia the US was hesitant because they did not want the same thing to happen
in Rwanda. One thing the article mentions is about Tribal Hatred, "Although it has not been exactly articulated this way, no member of the United Nations with an army strong enough to make a difference is willing to risk the lives of its troops for a failed central African nation-state with a centuries-old history of tribal warfare and deep distrust of outside intervention." There are a couple of interesting words that are used in this sentence... "Failed central African nation-state" and "Centuries-old of tribal warfare". The reason these two phrases irritate me is because not only is this an African state that is failed and why should we save it, it is also a victim of tribal hatred. So when we look at Africa there is a reoccurring focus on "Savagery" and "tribes", people not being civilized. But when you look further into the detail about what actually happened you will see that these stereo types are fictionalized and only used by the US and the UN, so they did not have to participate in helping those who were being killed in Rwanda for fear they will loose a lot of soldiers. So naming it tribal warfare on their part actually changes the need to intervene. So if they decided to declare the Rwandan disaster a Genocide, the troops would be rolling in, but because they hesitated, they did not have to send in the troops.
When you think about it, and when you learn the other side of the story, its hard to comprehend why we have this image and why we believe in these fairy tales about places we know little about. Its sad and it makes Americans and Europeans seem clueless to what is really going on in the world.
No comments:
Post a Comment