Current Events Report: Rwanda Threatens to Pull Peacekeepers Out of Darfur

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/01/world/africa/01rwanda.html

The title of my article was “Rwanda Threatens to Pull Peacekeepers from Darfur.” It was written by Jeffrey Gettleman and Josh Kron, and it was published in the New York Times.

            In the article, it discusses how on August 31^st, Rwanda had threatened to withdraw thousands of peacekeepers if the United Nations published a report accusing Rwandan forces of massacring civilians and possibly committing genocide in the Democratic of Congo in the 1990s. The report that was leaked to new sources last week charges that invading troops from Rwanda and Congolese rebels deliberately killed tens of thousands of members of the Hutu-ethnic group that were civilians (mostly women, children, and elderly) and that posed no threat to the forces. It also points out that until recently, Rwanda had been celebrated by many because it had seemed successful as an African nation that had been able to rebuild itself after genocide in 1994. It seemed so successful because of economic growth rates, low crime rates, and innovation regarding fighting poverty. Recently, though, people have begun to question Rwanda’s democracy especially after the Rwandan president, Paul Kagame, won in re-elections with 93% of the vote in August. Officials have tried to quietly persuade the U.N not to publish the report, or at least take out the heaviest accusations.

            I think that this is an important news event for the world because the United Nations is an important organization in the world, and its relationships with certain countries are also very important. Rwanda threatened to remove the 3,300 peacekeepers it has in Darfur to persuade the U.N from publishing the report because the peacekeepers in Darfur are essential to the United Nations’ peacekeeping mission there. This is an interesting development because the report makes very serious accusations against Rwanda and would definitely affect the way in which Rwanda is viewed in the world, especially because more people are starting to question their brand of democracy despite the promise they showed as a country after rebuilding. I am interested in seeing what the United Nations does concerning the report because not only will it affect their relationship with Rwanda, but also the way that people see the organization. It will affect how people see the organization because I think that it will be easy to question their authority and have them be a reliable organization of the Rwandan officials are able to persuade them out of publishing the report. This would make them seem kind of shady to go back on their own word after they are threatened and could open new questions about the U.N not being entirely truthful or trustworthy.