From War to Genocide: Criminal Politics in Rwanda, 1990–1994

Description

In April 1994 Rwanda exploded in violence, with political, social, and economic divisions most visible along ethnic lines of the Hutu and Tutsi factions. The ensuing killings resulted in the deaths of as much as 20 percent of Rwanda's population. André Guichaoua, who was present as the genocide began, unfolds a complex story with multiple actors, including three major political parties that each encompassed a spectrum of positions, all reacting to and influencing a rapidly evolving situation. Economic polarities, famine-fueled privation, clientelism, corruption, north-south rivalries, and events in the neighboring nations of Burundi and Uganda all deepened ethnic tensions, allowing extremists to prevail over moderates. Guichaoua draws on years of meticulous research to describe and analyze this history. He emphasizes that the same virulent controversies that fueled the conflict have often influenced judicial, political, and diplomatic responses to it, reproducing the partisan cleavages between the former belligerents and implicating state actors, international institutions, academics, and the media. Guichaoua insists upon the imperative of absolute intellectual independence in pursuing the truth about some of the gravest human rights violations of the twentieth century. Contents Foreword / Scott Straus Preface to the English Edition Preface to the Original Edition Acknowledgments Abbreviations Chronology 1. The Social and Political Context 2. The Refugee Question and the RPF’s Choice of Armed Struggle 3. A Necessary Political Transition 4. The Arusha Negotiations and the Reconfiguration of Political Forces 5. Unspoken Terms in the Arusha Peace Accords and Obstructions in the Political Transition 6. Competition for Control of the Militias 7. The Downing of the Presidential Plane on 6 April 1994 and the Military Crisis Committee 8. The Civilian Alternative 9. Installing the Interim Authorities 10. From Massacres to Genocide 11. The Interim Government at the Center of Power 12. War and the Fight for Supremacy 13. Truth, Justice, and the Politics of Memory Conclusion Updates for the Period 2010–2015 Appendix: Box 5 List of Boxes List of Annexes Notes Glossary Index of Names