ETHNIC CLEANSING

ETHNIC CLEANSING
Two of the most infamous ethnic conflicts of the 20th
century took place in Rwanda in 1994 and Bosnia-
Herzegovina between 1992 and 1995. In the Bosnian
conflict, political leaders exploited religious, cultural,
and linguistic differences to rally in-group support
among Orthodox Christian Serbs and to divide them
against Catholic Christian Croats and Serbo-
Croat-speaking Muslims. In January 1992, Bosnian
Muslims and Croats voted to seek recognition of the
country’s independence by the European Community
(EC). At the request of the EC, a second vote con-
firmed that Muslims and Croats overwhelmingly
204———Ethnocentrismfavored independence. The Serbian population
boycotted the referendum, and clashes over indepen-
dence led to ethnic violence in several Bosnian cities.
In April, the EC recognized Bosnia-Herzegovina’s
independence, and inMay, the country became amem-
ber of the United Nations, which only increased ethnic
conflicts among the Serbs, Croats, and Muslims.
Over the next months, ethnic violence escalated as
Bosnian Serb forces declared almost two-thirds of the
country an independent Bosnian state, and Croats
declared an independent Croatian state in territory
they held. Under the leadership of former Yugoslav
president Slobodan Milosevic, genocidal atrocities
were most often committed by Bosnian Serbs against
Muslims and Croats, such as the Srebrenica massacre
uncovered by journalist David Rohde in 1995. In
addition to genocide, Serbian paramilitary and mili-
tary forces instigated a policy of systematic rape of
women held in rape/death camps as another means of
promoting the ethnic cleansing of Muslims and Croats
from Serb-held territory. It is estimated that this ethnic
conflict left between 150,000 and 250,000 dead and
resulted in more than 250,000 rape victims—many of
whom had forced pregnancies.
In contrast to the military-led Bosnia-Herzegovina
conflict, ethnic cleansing in Rwanda was primarily
perpetrated by civilian Hutu against their Tutsi neigh-
bors. Also in contrast to the Bosnian conflict, Tutsi
and Hutu were largely integrated in terms of religion,
culture, and language, and had lived and interacted
socially for centuries. Although the Tutsi were a
minority population, their tradition of cattle herding
had given them economic and political domination
over the Hutu, who practiced traditional farming. The
Tutsi had also received privileged treatment by
Belgian colonialists for more than a century, until
Hutu revolutionaries took over political leadership in
the early 1960s.
In 1990, the Tutsi-led Rwandan Patriotic Front
(RPF) invaded Rwanda and a three-year civil war
ensued. The 1993 Arusha Peace Accords created an
uneasy cease-fire, as Hutu felt their newly acquired
political power would be reduced. In 1994, Rwanda
experienced an increase in mass killing and political
assassinations as Hutu extremists began to issue anti-
Tutsi propaganda in the media, drew up death lists,
and imported tens of thousands of machetes. That
same year, Rwandan president Juvénal Habyarimana
was killed when his plane was shot down near the
capital of Kigali. Immediately after the president’s
assassination, the Rwandan Armed Forces (FAR),
Presidential Guard, and  Interahamwe (Hutu youth
militia) began a premeditated program of genocide
targeting the Tutsi population and moderate Hutu
political leaders. Fearing a replay of their failed
Somali mission, the United Nations Security Council
ordered all peacekeeping and diplomatic personnel to
evacuate Rwanda. This power vacuum allowed Hutu
extremists to step up the systematic extermination of
civilian Tutsi and moderate Hutu, which resulted in
the genocide of an estimated 800,000 Rwandans in
just over 3 months