Genocide In Rwanda 

     This article is from the Journal of Modern African Studies. The article explains that the genocide in Rwanda must acknowledge manipulation by external forces and domestic pressures (Hintjens, 1999).  Many of the mechanisms through which genocide was prepared, implemented and justified in Rwanda bore striking resemblances to those used during the twentieth century's other major genocide, the Nazi Holocaust against the Jews (Hintjens, 1999). 

          

     The United States, in particular, was preoccupied with its domestic concerns and initially did not seem to give much thought to the nature of the killings, being wary of any intervention that would embroil it in something even more complex than Somalia. France simply did what it could to prevent English-speaking Africans from coming to power in Rwanda (Hintjens, 1999).  French material interests included arms sales, and rewards for private companies and ` loyal ' Africans (Hintjens, 1999). One reason there was so little international response to advance warnings of genocide was because of international indifference and ignorance about the reality of Rwanda's situation (Hintjens, 1999).

           

     During the genocide itself, orders to kill were issued from the top and passed down; those who refused to kill were almost always killed themselves (Hintjens, 1999). This form of leadership assisted in the continuation of killings.  The result was the almost total destruction of social bonds and relations of trust, and a situation where ` their teachers killed pupils, shop owners by their customers, neighbor killed neighbor and husbands killed wives to save them from a more terrible death (Hintjens, 1999).

           

     This article compares the leadership during the genocide to that of the Nazi leaders during the Holocaust. The writer of the article uses explaining why so many died as a memorial to their death.