Rwanda's Ethnic Crisis

Pamphile Sebahara (1998) in his article "The creation of ethnic division in Rwanda" writes: The genocide of the Tutsis and the massacres, which claimed almost a million lives in Rwanda between April and July 1994, are the result of a variety of interdependent factors. Reading the literature on the subject, we are left with one basic question: how can we comprehend the mass slaughter of men, women and children, primarily as a result of their belonging to …

…the refugees. However, thousands of refugees fell victim to cholera and other diseases. On June 23, French troops under UN mandate moved into SW Rwanda and created a safe zone for the affected people. In July the Rwandan Patriotic Front installed a government. Subsequently the French troops were withdrawn in August 1994. Similarly a UN peacekeeping mission too ended on March 8, 1996. Later on the UN-sponsored tribunal gathered information about the people who had perpetrated genocide in Rwanda.