Hello,
I am responding to your question regarding Rwanda. In answer to both
your questions; is the genocide still going on and how many people
have died, I have located several reliable resources. Regarding your
first question on whether the genocide still going on, the answer is
that it occured and was considered to have ended in 1994, although
that the after effects will continue for generations to come.
Reportedly between 800,000-1,000,000 people were killed in 100 days.
What is going on now is the genocide that is happening in Dafur and
that is being compared to the Rwanda genocide that happened in 1994.
Here are some reliable website resources that answer your questions.
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BBC World News
"Between April and June 1994, an estimated 800,000 Rwandans were
killed in the space of 100 days...Finally, in July, the RPF captured
Kigali. The government collapsed and the RPF declared a
ceasefire...But although the massacres are over, the legacy of the
genocide continues, and the search for justice has been a long and
arduous one. "
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/1288230.stm
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It was only until just recently that the UN tribunal legally
recognizes the Rwanda genocide:
"The Rwandan Genocide is the massacre of an estimated 800,000 to
1,071,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus in Rwanda, mostly carried out by
two extremist Hutu militia groups, the Interahamwe and the
Impuzamugambi, during a period of 100 days from April 6th through
mid-July 1994...
In a statement issued on June 16, [2006][,] the UN-backed tribunal
legally recognises the genocide that took place in Rwanda between
April 6 and July 17, 1994. This comes two years after the UN
officially accepted its failure to stop the genocide, which claimed an
estimated one million ethnic Tutsis and moderate Hutus. The Rwandan
government has welcomed the Tanzania-based tribunal proclamation, but
says it has been long overdue."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rwandan_genocide
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This article from the Sudan Tribune, compares numbers of the Dafur
genocide that is going on now with the Rwandan Genocide in 1994:
"Jan 18, 2005 ? The international news cycle continues to be dominated
by attention to the apparently inexorable rise in tsunami casualties
toward a figure of 200,000 throughout Southeast Asia. And yet at the
same time, evidence strongly suggests that total mortality in the
Darfur region of western Sudan now exceeds 400,000 human beings since
the outbreak of sustained conflict in February 2003. In other words,
human destruction is more than twice that of the recent tsunami---and
has now surpassed the half-way mark for the most commonly cited total
for deaths in Rwanda during the genocide of 1994 (800,000)...
Indeed, it is worth recalling here that while 800,000 is the figure
most commonly cited for the Rwandan genocide, there are other
estimates that continue to be proffered, from "over half a million" to
"almost a million."
http://www.sudantribune.com/article.php3?id_article=7614
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This article from the Human Rights Watch dicusses the impact of the
Rwandan genocide:
"If the Rwanda genocide had positive consequences elsewhere in
spurring action to avert genocide, its impact in Rwanda and the
surrounding region has been devastatingly negative. Since 1994 there
has been widespread conflict in central Africa: a serious uprising in
northwestern Rwanda, two major wars in the neighboring Congo and ten
years of civil war in Burundi. In all nearly four million civilians
have likely died as a direct or indirect result of military activity
in the region since 1994."
http://www.hrw.org/reports/1999/rwanda/10years.htm
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This is an article from the Carnegie Council:
"According to Samantha Power, although the UN community knew about the
systematic killings, nobody used the word "genocide" until too late,
in case it turned out to be exaggerated. In addition, Americans
wrongly thought that using the "G" word would commit them to military
intervention under the Geneva Conventions. In fact they could have
imposed a variety of sanctions, such as threatening prosecution,
freezing foreign assets, and rallying troops from other countries.
Instead, the world stood by as 800,000 people were slaughtered in 100
days. "
http://www.cceia.org/viewMedia.php/prmID/5105
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PBS has a presentation on the Rwandan genocide:
"Over the next 100 days, on average, 8,000 Rwandans a day will be
butchered. It is the fastest rate of mass killings in the twentieth
century. Some 800,000 people - roughly 10% of the population - are
murdered. Ninety percent of the victims are Tutsis. "
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/ghosts/etc/cron.html
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PBS has a chronology of the US/UN actions entitled a Hundred Days of Slaughter:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/evil/etc/slaughter.html
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Article from CNN.com:
"Rwanda's genocide began on the night of April 6, 1994, after the
shooting down of a plane carrying the Rwandan and Burundian
presidents, who both died in the crash near Kigali. Nearly one million
Tutsis and Hutu moderates were butchered by Hutu extremists in 100
days of brutal and unrestrained violence."
http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/africa/04/06/rwanda.dallaire/index.html
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This article from the New York Times was posted yesterday:
"The United States Embassy in Kigali on Friday, June 30, held
celebrations to mark its Independence Day, with Ambassador Michael
Arietti pledging increased financial support to Rwanda and the end of
genocide in Sudan's troubled Darfur region."
http://allafrica.com/stories/200607030939.html
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I hope that you have found this information useful, and if I can be of
further assistance please let me know - jdb-ga |
