Peacekeepink in rwanda

Lorena Aguirre
POL-203
10/29/2010

Peacekeeping operation in Rwanda. And the international Organization Response

Peacekeeping missions have been one of the most important policies of the United Nation for many decades. Every time a war between two rival nations or a civil war is about to break lose, the UN makes it a priority to step in to protect the civilians that are in a greatdanger. Peacekeeping has been really controversial, disagreement often arise when the forces that are responsible for peacekeeping in a country are unable to adequately do their job because the restriction that are place on them. Peacekeeping forces are unable to engage the enemy or even defend themselves or other citizens only under rare circumstances they actually use their weapons to defendthemselves or other citizens. The peacekeeping forces are limited in number so therefore in a conflict they are generally outnumbered, making them more vulnerable. Most peacekeeping operations like those in Rwanda, Somalia; Bolivia and others have almost ended in near failure because of all the confusion and response from the UN in the mater.
As the UN declares, peacekeepers are armed forces whosemission is to ensure peace is maintained between countries using methods of resolving disputes peacefully, such as negotiation and mediation.(http://www.un.org/en/peacekeeping)
After the colonization by Germany in 1898 and Belgium in 1923, relations in Rwanda between the Tutsis and the Hutus deteriorated. The civilian and ethnic tensions began when Belgium discovered that the Tutsis wanted to takecontrol over them in 1959. As a result, they backed Hutus to resist the Tutsi power. This led to the killings of thousands of Tutsis and power came in the hands of the Hutus, who gained independence from Rwanda in 1962. The Tutsis fled to Uganda, regrouped there and founded the Rwanda Patriotic Front (RPF). In 1973, a rebellion led by the Hutu extremist General Juvenal Habyarimana that overthrewthe existing government. General Juvenal Habyaarimana, encouraged discrimination between the Hutus and the Tutsis. In 1990, violence started to break out between Juvenal Habyarimana and the RPF armies. The conflict worsened after the suspicious death of Juvenal Habyarimana in 1994. The fight between Tutsis and Hutus began. After the massacre of the Tutsis peacekeepers were assigned to the site tokeep the peace this peacekeeping force was lead by the Canadian General Roméo Dallaire. The force found themselves powerless in the site, the forces couldn’t do anything, they had insufficient troops and a restricted mandate. Unable to take any action the peacekeepers could not intervene effectively. There was a lot of pressure from applied to the UN by the Canadian General to send more troopsand equipment. In four months, deaths reach more than two million, most of them Tutsis. Later on the RPF took power and more than 2 million Hutus fled to border countries. Sometime later they returned in the supervision of the UN with the approval of the Rwanda Patriotic Front. After the RPF took power Food shortages reached a high level and with more than one third of the population inmalnutrition and really high increment in orphans.(http://www.histori.ca/peace/page.do?pageID=339)
Canada always has been part of peacekeeping missions around the world mandated by the UN. It has more than fifty years of experience. Canada has been in the frontline in Rwanda that was led by General Romeo Dallaire to stop civilians from being massacred by the rival factions. By the time Belgium withdrawsfrom the country the Hutu had control over the country. Tutsi started to be racially persecuted and throughout the 1960´s they were massacred.
In 1990 rebel Tutsi fought back that gave birth a six month civil war. In 1991 a cease fire was signed with the aid of French troops. The civil war didn’t really end there and tension in Rwanda increased. Many humanitarian organizations appealed to their...