Thesis (MA) - Cyprus International University. Institute of Graduate Studies and Research International Relations Department

Includes bibliography (sheets 73-74)

ABSTRACT
The work of this research is centered on issues about the Rwandan genocide, a civil
war which escalated around April 1994 and lasted within 100 days with thousands of
death casualties recorded. Rwanda is comprised of three different ethnic groups of
people namely, Hutu, Tutsi and the Twa. They all claimed their origins traceable from
the same land. (Barnett, 2002, pp.1). The civil conflict was so tragic and devastating
against human rights laws and that attracted the global community such as the United
Nations for a humanitarian intervention. Thus, every sovereign state is expected to
protect its citizens but once the state fails to protect or in the case where a state violate
the human rights freedom against its citizens, it therefor become the responsibility of
the international community to protect the civilians from an autocratic government or
from state tyrannies and brutality. The Rwandan genocide has been a trending topic of
debate among different scholars which they have exhibited through divergent field of
studies such as in theory, concept, literature and history. Thus, the objective of this
research is to find out whether humanitarian intervention in Rwanda was effective or
non-effective. Therefore, In order to give a proper analyses about the frame work of
humanitarian intervention in Rwanda, diverse theoretical arguments and literatures
postulated by scholars will be outline
Apart from literatures and theories, other reports such as the Michael Barnett “Eye
witness to a genocide” “The L. Brahimi report”, “The Responsibility to Protect” a
socio-political policy which was conceive and .initiated in the year 2001 by formal UN
Secretary General Kofi Annan, and was implemented in the year 2005 during the
global world summit document all serves as a catalyst or a wind of change to correct
errors made in Rwanda and improve future crisis. This research will be examining
certain questions like “Can an intervention be humanitarian?” However, research has
shown that humanitarian intervention in Rwanda was a colossal failure due to so many
factors one of them being “self-ego” that is, individual’s “national state interest” was
the headline cause for the humanitarian failure in Rwanda followed by other factors
(Michael Mccall, July 9 2017) To the international community, noting beneficial was
seen in Rwanda unlike the gold and oil which attracted the world to intervene in Libya
and America was also motivated to intervene during the Iraq/ Afghanistan war.
Keywords: Effectiveness. Genocide, Humanitarian, Intervention, Rwanda