Стр. 25 - V

Author : V. Filippov
Leading research associate, Institute for African Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences, Doctor of Science
(History)
TWENTY YEARS have passed since what looked at first glance
like a senseless slaughter in Rwanda in which one million of its cit-
izens lost their lives. Today, wars and conflicts unfolding in other
regions of our planet invited a closer scrutiny of the Rwandan
slaughter. There is a strong possibility that certain politicians stirred
up nationalists and pushed peoples into the bloodshed to satisfy
their geopolitical ambitions and that the interests of the United
States and Europe clashed there. This is confirmed by the deliber-
ate inattention of Europe otherwise inclined to moralizing and by
the deliberately passive response of the UN Security Council. We
should go to the roots of the developments in Rwanda to better
understand what have happened in the world since then.
IN RUSSIA, it is generally believed that the appalling slaughter was caused by ethnic enmity be-
tween the Hutus and Tutsis. In one of his recent interviews. Alexei Vasiliev, Director of the In-
stitute for African Studies, said the following about the possible ways and means of reconciliation
in the Rwandan socium: "The Hutus and Tutsis who had been living side by side for a long time
became closer but remained different peoples. Their ancient history is not quite clear. Tutsis are
nomads and, traditionally, make good soldiers. Tutsis and Hutus speak the same language."
Each new case of international interference in conflicts anywhere in the world is accompanied
by a myth that this was done to achieve reconciliation and protect human rights -"And because
of excess of virtue the forces of hell prevail."
The numerous and very different interpretations of the term "ethnicity" make the distinctions
between Hutus and Tutsis vague to the extent that the conflict between them can hardly be in-
terpreted as ethnic.
In summer 1993, there was an illusion of a happy end: President Habyarimana who represented
the Hutus and Paul Kagame with the Tutsis behind him negotiated a ceasefire and a Roadmap
to integrate Tutsis into the country's political system. Those who for many years had been fanning
this confrontation in their own political interests had to move fast. On April 6, 1994, the aircraft
with President Juvénal Habyarimana and President of Burundi Cyprien Ntaryamira who were
returning from the capital of Tanzania was shot down as it prepared to land in Kigali; everybody
on board died.
THE GENOCIDE did not spring out of "ethnic hatred" between Tutsis and Hutus, the "bar-
barous peoples" who, driven by many centuries of enmity, started cutting each other into pieces
for no reason at all. In fact, these people with no political tradition to rely on were fooled by the
lies of the external forces.
http://interaffairs.ru
Rwanda: Twenty Years After