The tragedy of Rwanda

[Harold F. Schiffman]

Letter to the Editor, The Times September 06, 2006


The tragedy of Rwanda


Sir, Your advice on Darfur may be commendable but I believe that it is
based on a misreading of the tragedies that engulfed Rwanda and the
adjoining Great Lakes region of Africa (leading article, The next Rwanda?,
Sept 5). The French, for instance, are repeatedly branded as culprits
because the Hutu perpetrators of the massacre of Rwandan Tutsis were
allied to and had received military assistance from France. The shame is
that French policy made sense and was, in effect, sabotaged by London and
Washington.

As soon as the Ugandan-based Tutsi insurgents started making significant
inroads into Rwanda, the prospect arose of the 15 per cent minority Tutsi
once again ruling over the 85 per cent Hutu. This should have triggered
London into backing the Hutu-based Rwandan Government, possibly even
providing covert military assistance. London and Paris could have then
jointly approached Washington to put pressure on Uganda, which was then
Americas model African state, into withdrawing its support for the Tutsi
insurgents. By upholding the authority of the Hutu-based Rwandan
Government, there would have been no genocide of the Tutsis, nor the
subsequent killing of fleeing Hutus in Congo. Moreover, a Hutu-run Rwanda
would not have conspired to take over neighbouring parts of the Congo,
unlike the military of Uganda and Tutsi-run Rwanda who, along with their
client Congolese rebel factions, have wreaked much havoc.

The West, furthermore, would have been well placed to persuade a Hutu-run
Rwanda to respect its Tutsi minority, and to urge the Tutsi-dominated
military of neighbouring Burundi to end its rule over the Hutu majority.
Of course, Rwanda would have remained francophone instead of becoming
anglophone. But Rwandan language policy is hardly a vital British or
American national interest. Doing good is less about telegenic
intervention, whether diplomatic or military, and more about hard-headed
analysis coupled sometimes with timely, behind-the-scenes involvement.


YUGO KOVACH
Twickenham, Middx

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,59-2344206,00.html

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