I've also been reading Philip Gourevitch's "We wish to inform you that tomorrow we will be killed with all our families" this past week. What a story! Gourevitch travelled to Rwanda after the genocide and spent just under three years researching the causes and outcomes of the genocide. I won't bore you with all of the details, as there are countless, but I want to point out a few things that were particularly intriguing:

First, it seems to be widely thought that this was an age old battle, that of the Hutus and Tutusi's. It seems nothing could be further from the truth. They lived together in harmony for centuries in Rwanda and in neighboring countries. The difference between the two and the cause of the genocide is strictly man-made.

Second, I was struck at the part the clergy took in the killings. Not only did they seem to set up the Tutsi's but also took part themselves. The title of the book comes from a letter written from Tutsi's seeking shelter in a church to a member of the clergy who they hoped would save them. He didn't. It seemed common that clergy and government officials would offer the Tutsi's refuge in their churches and government buildings only days later to lead the Hutus to these very places where they would be exterminated.

Third, the way in which the killings took place added to the evil. This wasn't a "lets round up a thousand Jews and gas them," or people being gunned down from afar, most of the killings took place with a machete. Gourevitch cited a Rwandan who said it generally took four whacks from a machete to chop the leg of a cow, how many to sever the head of a person? It was said if you had the money you could buy your death with a bullet, but otherwise bullets were too expensive to be used on Tutsi's. Gourevitch also notes that as the killings went on throughout the day, the killers would tire at night, slash the achilles heels of the victims, eat, sleep, and drink throughout the night and then return to make the outcome final in the morning. This added another level to the monstrosity that was the Hutu power.

Finally, while we all know that the International community sat and watched while the genocide took place, but Gourevitch also aptly points out how they also took the side of the Hutus once the RFP (Tutsi liberation force) took control of the country and the Hutus fled to Zaire. Camps were set up, medical and food rations were delivered, Huts power was allowed to remain strong due to the protection of the UN and France in particular. It's still a zoo in that area today, though many (possibly all) of the camps have been shut down. The UN and France also seemed to require that the new government, which strove to rid the country of their ethnic barriers and differences, admit this as a war between two frations rather than one side seeking to eliminate the other. It seemed that though the Tutsis fought in self-defense, they were as much to blame as the Hutus. The Tutsis were forced to negotiate with the Hutus once things calmed down, though they asked "for what" and "with whom" and were never given answers, only that they must negotiate.

I could go on and on, as I skim my notes there is so much to write. If this interests you I highly recommend the book, it opened my eyes even more to Rwandan genocide in particular and the problems of the international community.