In Rwanda, a country half the size of Maine, a 10-year-old wound is beginning to heal. That wound was a genocide that claimed the lives of countless Rwandan people.
Rwanda is divided into two major ethnic groups; Hutu and Tutsi.
Currently in theaters, “Hotel Rwanda” tells the true story of a successful Hutu man who rescued roughly 1,200 Tutsi refugees by housing them in the hotel he manages in Kigali.
He housed them after U.N. troops, along with those from France, Belgium and Italy withdrew from Rwanda days after the attacks began.
The day following the mysterious plane crash on April 6, 1994, which killed Rwandan president Juvenal Habyarimana, a small group of Hutu began cleansing Rwandan society of Tutsi members. The members who are characterized by a taller build, lighter skin and more narrow nose than the Hutu.
Hate radio broadcasts supporting the massacre also enticed Hutu to “find and kill the Tutsi ‘cockroaches.’ ”
In the 100 days that followed, Tutsi and uncooperative Hutu men, women and children were brutally slaughtered in the streets where their bodies were left, numbering from 500,000 to 1 million dead.
This lesser-known genocide is frequently referenced as the African Holocaust.
Proven to be a trend, history has repeated itself, but this time the neighboring country of Sudan faces acts of genocide.
Will the United Nations or the United States intervene? Or can’t the United States afford to commit to another cause aside from the war in Iraq?
To help answer these questions, professor of African history Selika Ducksworth-Lawton shared her perspective of the situation.
When asked if she foresaw the United States involvement in the current situation in Sudan, which mirrors the Rwandan genocide of 1994, she said no, and added, “Attention tends to go to the squeakiest wheel…(but) the one that impacts (the United States) the most.”
Instead of direct involvement, advocates are urging the United Nations to apply pressure to the Sudanese government to find ways to end the killing.
When asked what sort of pressure the United Nations could use, Ducksworth-Lawton said one was “to make threats to withdraw American business (from Sudan),” which she said would greatly impact the Sudanese economy.
While the United Nations attempt to coerce the government of Sudan to take more decisive action, its citizens are waiting. These people living in a nightmare similar to that of the Holocaust in WWII, the Rwandan genocide and many others not mentioned in this article, are waiting – waiting for salvation, waiting for peace.
Hietpas is a junior photography major and an assistant photo editor of The Spectator.
