BRITISH STATE COMPLICITY IN GENOCIDE: RWANDA 1994
Abstract:
This article presents a synopsis of detailed research and analysis of British foreign policy in the Great Lakes region of Africa from 1990 and throughout the period of the genocide in Rwanda in 1994. The study evidences that the British government had a wealth of knowledge regarding insecurity and violence in Rwanda, and took a positive decision not to act to prevent or stop the genocide, thereby omitting to fulfil its obligations in terms of the UN Convention on Genocide and International Law. It is suggested herein that the decision-making of the British government during the period 1990-94 advanced the interrelated goals of maintaining power status and ensuring economic interests in key areas of Africa, inferring a substantial degree of complicity in genocide by omission.
Keywords: Rwanda; genocide; Great Lakes region; Africa; ethnic conflict; state crime; complicity; bystanders; international relations; British foreign policy
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THE FRENCH CONNECTION: COMPLICITY IN THE 1994 GENOCIDE IN RWANDA
Abstract:
This article explores the French government’s political and military relationship with Rwanda since 1975, with a particular focus on the period from 1990 and throughout the genocide of 1994. An argument is made that the French state, through its behaviour in Rwanda before and during the genocide of 1994 is complicit under international criminal law. As a concept, complicity provides a lens for understanding the scope of liability of states as responsible actors within the international system. The article argues that that the knowing participatory role played by the French throughout the period of the Rwandan genocide, can be construed as complicity in genocide. This is a criminal breach of international law.
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