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Double genocide theory (Rwanda)

Topic: History

 From HandWiki - Reading time: 4 min
Short description: Theory regarding the aftermath of the Rwandan genocide

The double genocide theory posits that, during the Rwandan genocide, the Tutsi-led Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) engaged in a "counter-genocide" against the Hutus.[1] Most scholars of Rwanda, such as Scott Straus and Gerald Caplan, say that RPF violence against Hutus does not fully match the definition of "genocide," considering that it instead consisted of war crimes[2] or crimes against humanity.[3]

Examples

Black Furies, White Liars, a book by French investigative journalist Pierre Péan, accuses the RPF of genocide against Hutus. Jean-Pierre Chrétien, a French historian, criticized Péan's "amazing revisionist passion".[4] A 2003 study by Philip Verwimp, based on 8 months of field research in central and southern Rwanda over a period of 2 years, found that the absolute number of Tutsis killed was double that for Hutus, and that the patterns of killing for the two groups differed.[5] Verwimp acknowledged that his study was only a partial test of the double-genocide thesis as it excluded the prefectures where most RPF killings were purportedly committed, yet concluded by arguing that "for those prefectures in which we performed our fieldwork, the term genocide should be reserved for the killings committed by the Interahamwe and the FAR, and another word should be used for the killings committed by the RPF. That word could be massacre or terror or another word, depending on the event."[6]

A great deal of effort has been extended to make sure the focus stays exclusively on the Francophone Tutsi victims and their Hutu executioners. But of the estimated one million people killed, between 300,000 and 500,000 of them were Tutsi, according to best estimates. What about the other 500,000 to 700,000 people? Who is responsible for their deaths?[7][8]

—Christian Davenport
Professor of Peace Studies at the University of Michigan

In 2009, scholars Christian Davenport of the University of Michigan and Allan C. Stam of Dartmouth College argued that the anti-Tutsi genocide constituted only part of the slaughter of spring and summer 1994; that the RPF was "clearly responsible" for another major portion of the killings; that the victims were "fairly evenly distributed between Tutsi and Hutu"; that the majority of the dead were Hutu, rather than Tutsi; and that, "among other things, it appears that there simply weren't enough Tutsi in Rwanda at the time to account for all the reported deaths".[9]

In October 2014, a BBC documentary, Rwanda: The Untold Story, was aired featuring interviews with Davenport and Stam. It suggested that Kagame's RPF was involved in the shooting down of Habyarimana's plane. It aroused considerable controversy.[10] Following this, the Rwandan government banned the BBC's Kinyarwanda-language radio broadcasts from the country[11] before conducting a three-week inquiry into the documentary.[12]

In 2018, the Canadian journalist Judi Rever released a book titled In Praise of Blood. Based on interviews with RPF defectors and top-secret documents that were leaked from the ICTR, Rever argued that ethnically targeted killings of Hutus by the RPF, beginning in 1990 in Rwanda and in 1996 in Zaire, should also be called "genocide."[13] Scholars had mixed reactions to Rever's description of these killings as "genocide." René Lemarchand called the book a "path-breaking inquest", "destined to become required reading for any one claiming competence on the Rwanda genocide".[14] Political scientist Scott Straus was critical, writing that in his opinion the evidence showed that the RPF killings of Hutu civilians constituted crimes against humanity, but not a double genocide.[3] Similarly, Gerald Caplan said that RPF had committed "war crimes" against Hutus but those crimes did not meet the definition of genocide.[2]

See also

  • Double genocide conspiracy theory

References

  1. ↑ Jean-Paul Gouteux. "Mémoire et révisionnisme du génocide rwandais en France: Racines politiques, impact médiatique". Online posting. Amnistia.net 12 February 2004.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Caplan 2018, p. 186.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Straus 2019, pp. 5, 13.
  4. ↑ "Point de Vue: Un pamphlet teinté d'africanisme colonial". Le Monde 9 December 2005. Qtd. by Thierry Perret in "Les dossiers de presse : Afrique-France: Rwanda/« l'affaire » Péan". Online posting. RFI Service Pro 22 December 2005. Chrétien's "Point de Vue" posted online in Observatoire de l'Afrique centrale 8 (December 2005)
  5. ↑ Verwimp 2003.
  6. ↑ Verwimp 2003, pp. 424, 441.
  7. ↑ David Peterson (17 June 2011). "Rwanda's 1991 Census". ZSpace. https://zcomm.org/zblogs/rwandas-1991-census/. Retrieved 9 August 2013. 
  8. ↑ Fallon, Joan (24 March 2009). "Research sheds new light on Rwanda killings". http://news.nd.edu/news/11353-research-sheds-new-light-on-rwanda-killings/. Retrieved 19 December 2014. 
  9. ↑ Christian Davenport; Allan C. Stam (6 October 2009). "What Really Happened in Rwanda?". psmag.com. https://psmag.com/social-justice/what-really-happened-in-rwanda-3432. Retrieved 10 August 2013. 
  10. ↑ For criticism of the documentary, see:
    Wallis, Andrew (6 October 2014). "'Rwanda: The Untold Story': questions for the BBC". https://www.opendemocracy.net/andrew-wallis/rwanda-untold-story-questions-for-bbc. Retrieved 26 November 2014. 
    Musoni, Edwin (26 November 2014). "BBC had an agenda to twist Rwanda history – UK expert". http://www.newtimes.co.rw/section/article/2014-11-26/183439/. Retrieved 27 November 2014. 
    Johnson, Richard (14 December 2014). "The BBC and the West need to clean up their act on Rwanda". Christian Science Monitor. http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Africa/Africa-Monitor/2014/1214/The-BBC-and-the-West-need-to-clean-up-their-act-on-Rwanda. Retrieved 19 December 2014. 
  11. ↑ Baird, Dugald (24 October 2014). "Rwanda bans BBC broadcasts over genocide documentary". https://www.theguardian.com/media/2014/oct/24/rwanda-bans-bbc-broadcasts-genocide-documentary. Retrieved 26 November 2014. 
  12. ↑ Musoni, Edwin (18 November 2014). "BBC probe team begins work tomorrow". New Times (Rwanda). http://www.newtimes.co.rw/section/article/2014-11-18/183170/. Retrieved 27 November 2014. 
  13. ↑ Rever 2018, p. 223, 232.
  14. ↑ Lemarchand, René (25 June 2018). Rwanda: the state of Research | Sciences Po Violence de masse et Résistance – Réseau de recherche. ISSN 1961-9898. https://www.sciencespo.fr/mass-violence-war-massacre-resistance/en/document/rwanda-state-research. Retrieved 13 December 2018. 

Sources

  • Caplan, Gerald (2018). "Rethinking the Rwandan Narrative for the 25th Anniversary". Genocide Studies International 12 (2): 152–190. doi:10.3138/gsi.12.2.03. 
  • Rever, Judi (2018) (in en). In Praise of Blood. Random House of Canada. ISBN 978-0345812117. 
  • Straus, Scott (6 June 2019). "The Limits of a Genocide Lens: Violence Against Rwandans in the 1990s". Journal of Genocide Research 21 (4): 504–524. doi:10.1080/14623528.2019.1623527. ISSN 1462-3528. 
  • Verwimp, Philip (2003). "Testing the Double-Genocide Thesis for Central and Southern Rwanda". The Journal of Conflict Resolution 47 (4): 423–42. doi:10.1177/0022002703254478. 




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