Rwanda genocide, Gaza killings and the hypocrisy of United States

The behaviour of the powers that be during the worst of genocide and the subsequent changing of tune down the line is what should concern us as world citizens. In the case of Rwanda, for instance, the United States was found to have covertly supported the genocide by arming the Ugandan government, which in turn armed the exiled Rwandan Patriotic Front that initiated the onslaught on the Hutu majority nearly four years prior to the genocide. Today, with regard to the situation in Palestine, it is the United States government that provides arms and monetary aid to Israel with its right hand, even as it provides humanitarian assistance to Palestine with its left.

A world where declarations of peace are hollow veneers through which the greatest powers throw stones and then hide their hands is a world of nothing more than despair. It is evident, even as we sit in the eye of the genocidal storm in Palestine and commemorate the regrettable genocide of Rwanda, that the United States will apologise years from now for its part in the current situation. But of what use are these apologies after the fact, whilst during the fact those that had the power to stop these hellish conditions were in fact the ones fueling them?

Over a decade ago, while working at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda – the court that prosecuted the more high-profile perpetrators of the genocide, I was struck by how much psychological damage had actually been done on both the Hutu and Tutsi. Those of Rwandan heritage who worked with us in Arusha expressed trepidation and unease even as they took part in the process of seeking justice.

As well, they expressed distrust of each other. Whilst the international community sat back and watched the events of the genocide unfold or, even worse, tacitly encouraged and funded it, the lives and livelihoods of real people were affected, entire families were wiped out, and futures forever changed.

Scholastique Mukasonga, a celebrated Rwandese refugee and author, lends words to the great change that took place within the community. Through her writing, she tells tales of families, including her own, that were one day held together and then overnight separated, leaving devastating emotional wounds that are yet to be fully repaired. It is heinous to sit back and watch the same thing happen in Palestine, or with any other community in the future for that matter. It would be encouraging to see the international community hold the instigators responsible, as South Africa has done, rather than cowering in fear of the consequences of such action.

-Ms Gitahi is an international lawyer