| dc.description.abstract | This study examines the roots of the Rwanda conflict (1990-1998) and its external
dimension. Specifically, it investigates the interaction between the internal and external
factors in the escalation and management of the conflict.
The study relied on both primary source of information and secondary sources.
Secondary sources involved library research on published and unpublished, but
authoritative materials. Primary information was sourced through interviews with
individual experts on the region' and political attaches in both the DRC and Rwanda
embassies.
The study reaches a number of conclusions. The Rwanda conflict had multiple
and complex causes. These are structural, economic, social, political, colonial and
institutional (state structure, discriminatory political and economic, social, political
institutions, elite politics). Security problems were also causes of the conflict (intra-sate
security concerns, refugee problems). Others were psychological or psycho-cultural
(irrational myth, mistrust, fear and hatred). It was the interplay between the structural and
psychological factors that triggered the tragic events of 1994.
At any time either before or during the genocide, the deployment of a wellequipped
international peace keeping force with a strong mandate could at least have
forced the genocidaires to modify their plans thereby saving many lives. Only the
international community could have done that, but it chose to reject that choice.
The Rwanda conflict has not been contained within the frontiers of the country.
Its neighbours experienced the effects of this crisis. Tanzania, Burundi and Uganda had
been flooded with refugees. Former Zaire (now DRC) has been destabilized. When the
Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) conquered Kigali in July 1994, the deposed leadership
and the genocidaires escaped into eastern Zaire an refugee camps. With the tacit support
of the Kinshasa government, the ex-FAR and Interhamwe used these camps as bases to
launch attacks against the new Kigali regime. The presence of massive Hutu refugee
camps that housed hostile armed elements close to the border constitute a major security
threat. In order to eliminate this threat, Kigali intervened militarily in the former Zaire in
support of the anti-government forces. Thus the Rwanda internal conflict
internationalized and shifted the epicenter of the conflict from Rwanda to the former
Zaire.
Political rivalries and ethic distinctions are becoming intertwined; with the result
an ugly new ethnic polarization threatens to engulf central and eastern Africa. It is the
notion of a pan- Tutsi conspiracy to conquer the Bantu people of eastern and central
Africa. Some members of the Congolese elite subscribe to this notion. There is growing
anti- Tutsi feelings ,in the DRC, which is reinforced by the fear of extension into the Kivu
region of the Rwanda political-military presence.
The conflicts in Rwanda and the DRC are best and most effectively managed
regionally. If the international community wants to solve the Congolese conflict it should
also take into account the Rwanda conflict because these are interconnected. | en |
