Class Debate: Rwandan Genocide

Yesterday in class we debated the topic of the genocide in Rwanda. My group represented Paul Kagame, and even though I think we had a pretty good idea of our part in the genocide, I’m still not exactly sure of everyone else. I feel like we do not know enough about the other groups, and the questions I have to ask and the questions of others are not entirely answered, they seem a bit opened ended. And I’m not exactly sure who to blame. But, for the rivalry of the Hutu and Tutsi, I definitely blame Belgium. First they favored the Tutsis, and then before they pulled out of Rwanda they switched the power over to the Hutu because they said that they had made a mistake favoring one over the other but how does switching the power to the other group make anything better? One would think that in order to restore peace between the groups, they would split the power evenly between the Hutu and Tutsi groups. I do not blame the U.S. or the U.N. because the United States had just come out of a war and placing myself in the shoes of the U.N. I ask myself, “What side do you take?” As for France, they decided to help the official military of Rwanda, which seems like the most logic thing to do.
This debate has become something that I don’t see myself too good at because I am able to see the situation from everyone’s view and you would think this helps, but I often find myself wondering why NOBODY sees their wrongs in this, because they ALL have done something they should not have done and I just want to ask everyone why they can’t forget their differences, realize they’ve made mistakes, stop what they are doing and restart, making sure that neither group has more power than the other to ensure peace for the future. I just don’t understand. They probably know they’ve done wrong, but they have too much pride to admit it was wrong and come up with reasons for their doings. I think that if the opposing groups were to work together to find out what started their dispute, they might come to find out whose fault it really is. From the debate on Thursday, it seemed like all the outrage began when the Belgians came in and favored one over the other because before the Belgians came, they were separated and yes, one had a higher status than the other but they were not favored in the way the Belgium did and I believe that this could be the origin of the chaos.