| 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 Secondary sources involved library research on published and unpublished, but authoritative materials.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 psychological or psycho-cultural the interplay between the structural and security concerns, refugee problems). Others (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 well- equipped 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 Zairean 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. | |
