INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS AND THE PACIFIC SETTLEMENT OF DISPUTES: AN APPRAISAL OF THE ROLE OF UNITED NATIONS IN THE RWANDAN CRISES OF 1994

INTRODUCTION

1.1       Background of the Study 

Conflict and disputes resolution are of immense importance in today’s society. They are constantly experienced across the globe with countries facing a number of conflict and conflict related issues ranging from social, economic, political, and ethnic to environmental issues.Dispute arises when there is an incompatibility of interest. Without disputes therefore it is useless to talk of a condition of harmony of interest – which in other word, is referred to as peace. There have been variegated definitions of the concept of conflict, dispute or better still crisis though there is no disagreement on its manifestations and impact on the society.¹ These problems become further compounded by the realization that there are many types of conflicts. These include: family conflict, communal conflict, organizational conflict, national conflict, and international conflict, to mention but a few. 

According to Galtung, conflict is a condition in the society. Galtung said that an action- system is said to be in conflict if the system has two or more incompatible goals. In Coser, conflict is viewed as a process and therefore is regarded as a struggle over values and claims to scarce status, power, and resources in which the aims of the opponent are to neutralize, injure or eliminate their rivals⁴. From the few exposition of conflict above, one could understand that dispute at all levels arises out of incompatibility of interest as a result of the struggle for scarce resources. When these struggles develops or build up into extreme situations where critical decision has to be taken, it becomes a dispute. 

1.2       Statement of the Problem      

Genocide and political killings are recurrent phenomena, with forty-one cases of such episodes since 1955⁵. Evidence suggests these instances of mass killings often occur in the presence or aftermath of internal armed conflict. If violent conflict remains a problem in the Twenty Fist Century, then this century looks set to be just as bleak as the last.          With the exit of communism from the super power equation, and with the United Nations set free from the inhibiting effect of super power rivalry, it was believed by some, that in this global arena, peace and stability would prevail. This proved not to be the case. The end of the Cold War witnessed the emergence of new ‗hot spots‘. For example, the collapse of the Soviet Block, and with it the re-emergence of previously homogenised geographical and ethno-national identities, had deadly consequences. Though, by the end of the 1990s and early 2000, figures suggested that the end of the cold war, the spread of democracy and the rise of United Nations peacekeeping was having some effect.However, these effects were not close to being effective in some conflicts that generated in Africa. United Nation’s intervention in the Rwandan Genocide has been viewed by many as one of the failures at peace settlement before and in the after the genocide. It is in the light of these that the researcher seeks to examine the role of international organizations, particularly the UN in promoting world peace especially in the Rwandan crisis of genocide in 1994. 

1.3       Aim and Objectives of the Study      

This study warrants serious consideration due to the catastrophic losses suffered by individuals, societies and nations, and the consequent undermining of the regional and international institutions and the international system on which they are founded. The study intends to achieve the following objectives:

i.                    To analyze the imperative of the Rwandan genocide

ii.                  To understand the preconditions and acceleratoryof factors that allow a civil war to develop into genocide or politicide.

iii.                To identify conditions under which governments or rival authorities choose a strategy of genocide during or following civil war.

iv.                To provide a framework, for states, institutions and organisations like the UN and non-governmental organisations, this will enable them to develop effective genocide prevention mechanisms.

v.                  To ascertain the role, impact and failures of the United Nation in Rwandan Crisis.

1.4       Significance of the Study

This research study will be significant in the following ways

i.                     This study will provide materials as well as information on international organizations and the pacific dispute settlements.

ii.                        It would also provide information to researcher who wishes to carry out a study on the subject.

iii.                        Finally, since the study focuses on the role of the UN during the Rwandan crisis of 1994, it would be an invaluable material for future assessment of the UN involvement in dispute settlements.

1.5       Scope of the Study

            This study seeks to examine the role of the United Nations in the Rwandan crisis (genocide). The major actors, the root causes of the genocide in one hand, and in the other hand, the UN organization in fostering world peace.

1.6       Research Methodology

            The methodological approach employed in this study is a hybrid of critical qualitative and empirical analysis, drawing on evidence from Primary sources which are first-hand information obtained governmental and non-governmental reports.Text. Secondary sources are second-hand information obtained from the internet, textbooks, journals, newspapers, and magazines, seminar, symposia and workshop papers in order obtain a comprehensive and accurate understanding of the stated problem: UN’s effort towards managing the Rwandan crisis.


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