Rwanda: Peacemaking and Reconciliation

Paper Summary:

This paper analyzes the reasons why the UN failed to find a solution to the 1994 crisis in Rwanda that led to the mass murder of Rwandan citizens. The paper argues that the reasons for the failure to prevent the genocide in Rwanda are because the situation was incorrectly evaluated, there was no will to do anything effective, and the media did not draw attention to the situation and arouse public opinion in favour of humanitarian intervention until it was too late. The paper further contends that the failure was not because the United Nations has used a single peacekeeping and peacemaking model since the end of the Cold War, as claimed by some political analysts.

From the Paper:

"The United Nations peace efforts were not effective in Rwanda, not because there is something wrong with its peacemaking model in general as Clapham believes but, because it incorrectly evaluated the conflict. Stephen John Stedman explains that one of the most important conditions for the successful prevention of a conflict, for peacemaking or for peacekeeping is to identify the causes of the conflict and the obstacles for peace. These obstacles, known as "spoilers," can be defined as 'Leaders and parties who believe that peace emerging from negotiations threatens their power, worldview and interests, and use violence to undermine attempts to achieve it""

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