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'British State Complicity in Genocide: Rwanda 1994 (Vol. 1, No. 1, Spring 2012, pp. 70-87)'

  • British State Complicity in Genocide : Rwanda 1994, Hazel Cameron, State Crime Journal, Vol. 1, No. 1 (Spring 2012), pp. 70-87

Summary

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 rebel guerrilla force of the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) was supported militarily and ideologically by the United Kingdom prior to its 1990 attack on Rwanda from Uganda; throughout the ensuing civil war in Rwanda between the RPF and the forces of the Government of Rwanda; and during the genocide and massacres of many thousands. The study confirms 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 it, 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.

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