Amnesty, Reconciliation and Reintegration: The International Community and the Rwandan Process
Abstract
The Rwandan Genocide of 1994 was a cataclysmic international event. Because of the devastation suffered during the genocide, a focused effort at repairing the social fabric of the nation had to take place. The case shows how Rwanda overcame the negative impacts of the international community and implemented two aspects of the amnesty, reconciliation, and reintegration process (AR2) by developing interesting and innovative reconciliation and reintegration policies. Throughout the case there are four issues that prove integral to the AR2 process; the anthropology of Rwanda, its colonial history, the international communities actions, and the Rwandan Patriotic Fronts policies that returned the country to its cultural norms. Rwandan anthropology, cultural understanding, and colonial history play a vital role in forming the foundation for the genocide. These three factors set the conditions for a genocide that saw between 800000 and 1 million people killed in less than four months. Finally, in 2002, Rwanda truly moved forward to reconciliation and reintegration. They did this by instituting cultural policies such as the Gacaca Courts and the Ingando Camps. Gacaca Courts were drawn from the shared tribal culture of Rwanda and allowed for perpetrators of the genocide to be meted out justice. This justice helped to heal the mental and societal wounds of the genocide. The Ingando Camps, while controversial, are breeding nationalism by re-teaching the history of Rwanda. Its focus is to discard the Hutu and Tutsi labels of the past, banding everyone together as Rwandan.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- May 22, 2008
- Accession Number
- ADA485563
Entities
People
- Jeffrey H. Powell Ii
Organizations
- United States Army Command and General Staff College