| Date | November 2017 | Marks available | 9 | Reference code | 17N.1.BP.TZ0.20 |
| Level | Both SL and HL | Paper | Paper 1 - first exams 2017 | Time zone | TZ0 |
| Command term | Discuss | Question number | 20 | Adapted from | N/A |
Question
Source Q
Gerard Prunier, an historian specializing in African history, writing in the academic book Africa’s World War: Congo, the Rwandan Genocide, and the Making of a Continental Catastrophe (2008).
[Tutsis returning from exile] would take any salaried job, and this meant pushing the Hutu out of the towns—and out of the jobs. This contributed to further social tensions in the country. To make things worse, over 150,000 houses had been destroyed and even without any illegal occupations there would not have been enough houses to go around. There were also nearly 300,000 children without parents … living lives of incredible fear and loneliness, at times miles away from the nearest adult. Most of the police were dead or had fled abroad with the former government, as had most of the judges, schoolteachers, doctors, and nurses … even the churches, which were full of dead bodies, were closed.
[Source: Republished with permission of Oxford University Press, from ‘Africa’s world war: Congo, the Rwandan genocide, and the making of a continental catastrophe’, Gerard Prunier, 2008; permission conveyed through Copyright Clearance Center, Inc. Language rights granted by Eulama International Literary Agency]
Source R
Chris Riddell, an illustrator and political cartoonist, caricaturing the situation in refugee camps in an untitled cartoon for the British newspaper The Observer (11 November 1996).
Note: The text on the knife is “Hutu Militia” and on the bowl it is “Refugees”.
[Source: Chris Riddell/Guardian News & Media. Copyright Guardian News & Media Ltd 2017]
Source S
Sadako Ogata, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, outlines her findings in a speech to the United Nations Security Council in New York (28 June 1996).
New comprehensive initiatives are urgently needed to break the deadlock in the repatriation of 1.7 million Rwandan refugees. Extremist elements among the refugees in Zaire are responsible for increasing armed incursions into Rwanda and have reportedly also been involved in the massacres in the Masisi region, thus creating regional tension. A climate of intimidation in the camps and fear of arrest or retribution [revenge] in Rwanda remain the two major obstacles to large scale repatriation.
Achieving lasting repatriation and contributing to reconciliation remains our objective… Let me say a few words about the relocation of camps. We believe that it would improve regional and refugee security … When combined with the separation of the former army and leadership, relocation would also help break their control of the refugees. It might then enable and induce many … refugees to repatriate … Separation would make it easier to exclude from international protection those guilty of genocide, in accordance with the OAU [Organisation of African Unity] Refugee Convention. This has thus far been practically impossible.
Let me add that I am worried about the assertion by some that the forced return through various means of Rwandan refugees from Zaire is the only “solution”. There are still human rights concerns in Rwanda. I am also convinced that in that case large numbers of refugees would spread out and destabilize other regions of Zaire, as happened in Masisi. On the other hand, a sudden mass return to Rwanda could have serious humanitarian and security implications.
[Source: Remarks by Mrs. Sadako Ogata, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees,
to the United Nations Security Council, New York, 28 June 1996]
Using the sources and your own knowledge, discuss the challenges faced by the Rwandan government in finding justice and reconciliation from the end of 1994 through to the end of 1998.
Markscheme
Apply the markbands that provide the “best fit” to the responses given by candidates and award credit wherever it is possible to do so. The following material is an indication of what candidates may elect to write about in their responses. It is neither prescriptive nor exhaustive and no set answer is required. While it is expected that there will be coverage of at least two of the sources, candidates are not required to refer to all four sources in their responses.
Indicative content
Source Q
There were acute social problems after the war and the genocide. Returning Tutsi exiles took Hutu jobs in the towns and this led to social tension. There was a lack of housing and there were hundreds of thousands of orphaned children. Justice and reconciliation would be difficult to find as most of the police, the judges, schoolteachers, doctors and nurses were dead or had fled.
Source R
A challenge to reconciliation was the dominance of Hutu leaders in the refugee camps. They had been driven out of Rwanda but were still armed.
Source S
The UN had difficulty in identifying and separating the “extremists” in the refugee camps. This meant that the former leadership were still active and had not been brought to “justice”. The location of camps may have been a problem. Repatriation of refugees was difficult due to intimidation in the camps, but also due to the threat of arrest in Rwanda. Another problem for reconciliation and justice were human rights concerns in Rwanda.
Own knowledge
Reference may be made to the suggestion that the social impact of the genocide was immense, as evidenced by the proportion of the population that had been killed and the volume of internally displaced persons. There was a lack of security within Rwanda and continued ethnic tension between Hutu and Tutsi.
The apparent lack of justice delivered by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda was a challenge for reconciliation and justice. The Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) faced the challenge of consolidating their political control and removing elements of the radical Hutu party, the National Republican Movement for Democracy and Development (MRND), which they banned. For justice and reconciliation there needed to be economic reconstruction. The economy needed foreign investment and loans to foster security and stability. The government also faced the external threat of continued war in the region, in the Democratic Republic of Congo (Zaire). The dismantling of the refugee camps was another challenge for the Rwandan government as thousands were killed in the process and refugees crossed over the border into Rwanda.
