Good Example Of Essay On Peace Keepers And Political Science In Rwanda

Please discuss the weaknesses of UNAMIR in Rwanda. (20 points - 17 sentence maximum)

UNAMIR, or the United Nations Assistance Mission for Rwanda, was a group that was formed to help move forward the implementation of the agreement that was determined in the Arusha Accords in 1993. These Accords were those accords that ended the Civil War. The Rwandan Civil War happened from 1993-1996, and during this war, the Hutus of the country tried their best to ethnically cleanse the Tutsi. The government of Rwanda at this time was primarily Hutu, and in response to the control of the government, the Tutsi rebel forces formed the Rwandan Patriotic Front, or the RPF. This army would go on to fight and kill many Tutsis. UNAMIR was known for its inaction early in the Civil War, in which there was fighting. Both sides had a general disregard for the rules of engagement.
The United Nations foresaw the instability in Rwanda, and sought to offset the coming storm by passing a series of regulations that were to establish peacekeepers in the capital city of Kigali. However, during the Civil War, there were a number of instances of UNAMIR soldiers looking on as people were killed, and refusing to lift a finger to help. UNAMIR became known as a group that had no real ability to be involved in the ground. After Rwanda, it became the goal of the organization to stabilize Rwanda and other areas in the region, and to try to offset the power of men and women who were trying to horde power.

Please discuss the changes in UN Peacekeeping rules after the Rwanda genocide. (10 points - 10 sentence maximum)

After the Rwandan genocide, the United Nations realized that there was a problem with the way that they were handling potentially explosive situations. Many people in Rwanda died because of UNAMIR’s inability to act in a number of different situations. UNAMIR undoubtedly failed its primary goal, which was to help stabilize the Rwanda government. However, the group went on to be influential in the region, particularly at state-building and humanitarian help for those who had been displaced from the area by war.
The UN Peacekeeping rules in the years after the Rwandan genocide changed slightly. There was always a restriction in the rules that suggested that the troops could not use violence except in the form of self-defense. The UN peacekeeping rules, according to the United Nations, suggest that “In certain volatile situations, the Security Council has given UN peacekeeping operations ‘robust’ mandates authorizing them to ‘use all necessary means’ to deter forceful attempts to disrupt the political process, protect civilians under imminent threat of physical attack, and/or assist the national authorities in maintaining law and order.” There will always be questions about what constitutes the necessary means for the UN troops to protect attacks on a civilian government. These questions, and the questions of how to best protect law and order in a tumultuous country, are some of the primary concerns of the UN Peacekeeping efforts on site and off site.
Please discuss the importance of General Dallaire following the rule of law by not killing the three Hutu leaders with whom he met or firing upon the Hutu rebels. (20 points - 17 sentence maximum)
General Dallaire was a general for UNAMIR, the United Nations Assistance Mission for Rwanda. When the Hutu president of Rwanda was assassinated and the whole country devolved into genocidal chaos, it was General Dallaire that had to pick up the pieces of the country and ensure that it did not completely fall apart. This was made more difficult by the fact that the Hutu majority was trying very hard to kill the Tutsi minority. Dalliare was faced with a very complex situation, in which there were many lives at stake, including the lives of many of his men: how could he possibly protect the maximum number of people and the political stability of a nation that seems intent on tearing itself apart. There were no good answers, and the situation was devolving quickly and in such a way that the general public had never seen before. Even experts were perplexed by the coming genocide of the Tutsi people.
When General Dallaire did not engage in violence, he was setting the rules of engagement for UNAMIR, and these rules were different from the chaotic free-for-all that was commonly considered the rules of engagement in Rwanda. When he refused to have these reactions, he ensured that the United Nations remained relatively neutral in the conflict. The United Nations wanted to end the genocide in Rwanda, but they wanted to do so in a way that did not appear to be taking sides with one government over another; to do this, Dallaire expressed the ability to meet with people considered the enemy without breaking the rules of engagement that are considered standard throughout the rest of the world.
Please discuss how the concept of Human Security could have been applied to the Democratic Republic of the Congo to ameliorate the situation. ( 20 points - 17 sentence maximum)
The idea of human security is the idea that human beings—the individuals within a society—should be the focus of security operations, not the overall safety of the state. In Rwanda, the UN Peacekeeping forces did not see the Rwandan people as important a goal for protection as the overall security of the state. Because of these differences in viewpoints, there were a number of people who were not protected by the United Nations’ peacekeeping forces, even though they approached these forces with every intention of getting help for their friends, family and selves.
After the United Nations and its major failure in Rwanda, there was a shift in the way the idea of security was handled by the United Nations as a whole. When the security was handled prior to Rwanda, the idea was to ensure the safety of the country as a whole. Rwanda, and the incredible amount of outside attention that the country got after its genocide ensured that the United Nations take a closer look at the human toll of its current policies. Because the United Nations was formed with the ide of a humanitarian mission in mind, it seems that the failure of Rwanda changed the way that things were seen as necessary or unnecessary in the actions of the organization.

Please discuss the real world difficulties with involvement in DROC for nations and International Organizations. (10 points - 10 sentence maximum)

Around the same time that Rwanda was devolving into utter chaos, so too was the Civil War in the Democratic Republic of Congo becoming an issue. The end of the conflict in Rwanda came in 1996, and a year later, in 1997, there was a Civil War that broke out in the Congo. The Congolese were also victimized in the Rwandan Civil War, however, particularly the ethnic Tutsis in the northern part of the country.
There are many problems with military and humanitarian engagement in the Democratic Republic of Congo. First of all, the country is nearly land-locked, and many of the bordering nations are not necessarily friends of the international community; indeed, many of the nations that border the DROC were significantly tumultuous at the time. In addition, the geography of the country itself makes it difficult for help to permeate the area. Unlike other parts of Africa, the DROC is heavily wooded, with a lot of jungle. Jungle can be very problematic when it comes to helping with humanitarian missions, including supply runs and stabilization help. Because there were so many borders in the DROC, there were also huge amounts of refugees streaming into the country every day.

Please discuss why the United States was reluctant to get involved in Rwanda and DROC. (10 points - 10 sentence maximum)

Many people decry the United States and her involvement in the global community; sometimes the USA is even referred to as the policemen of the world. During the 1990s, this criticism often shaped the policies of the United States. Because the problems in DROC and Rwanda were self-contained, the United States did not see it as their duty to get involved in the process. Instead, the United States chose to maintain involvement only through the Untied Nations. Getting involved in these two events would have set a precedent for the United States, in which she always gets involved in global events like genocide; it would truly function to ensure that the United States was the world’s watchdog. However, the intentional avoidance of involvement meant that the genocide occurred and millions of people died.
Please discuss reasons why the United States generally does not send the US military to act as UN Peacekeepers (and what we do instead) - (10 points - 10 sentence maximum) (bullet points are acceptable for this answer)
The United States tend to act politically in countries via the United Nations, to avoid the appearance of favoritism or of being the world’s policeman or watchdog; the United Nations is a more global alliance of powers
When a conflict directly involves the United States, the United States will get involved. The USA will not get involved when the conflict is a civil war, or if there are human rights being violated.
The USA instead tries to put pressure on countries in a diplomatic way. Often this involves sanctions, like economic sanctions.
Sanctions only work in some cases. In other cases, the government is unwilling to concede any ground, even at the threat of economic sanctions.
Sanctions are designed to force the hand of the government in question, so that the government is willing to continue to do as the United States says so that it can get payment from the United States and her allies.