German Foreign Policy and the Rwandan Genocide
Approximately 800,000 people were killed in the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. The question of the international community's responsibility is still being asked today. Many questions about German foreign policy at the time also remain unanswered.
A quarter of a century after the genocide, the German Federal Foreign Office has granted access to some of the relevant files for the first time. Based on an analysis of these documents and supplementary interviews, this paper summarises new insights into German foreign policy before and during the genocide and outlines policy recommendations for possible comparable situations in the future.
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Table of contents
Summary 3
Introduction: Germany and the Rwandan Genocide 4
New Insights From the Archives of the German Federal Foreign Office 6
- Early Warning and Political Analysis in German Diplomacy Before the Genocide 7
- Inter-Ministerial Coordination and Strategic Capacity 11
- Early Action: Political Initiatives and Debates on Germany’s Participation in UNAMIR 14
Addressing Remaining Deficits: Early Warning, Strategic Capacity, and Early Action 20
- Early Warning and Conflict Analysis 20
- Strategic Capacity and Inter-Ministerial Coordination 21
- Moving from Early Warning to Early Action 23
- Further Processing of Germany’s Policies and Lesson 24
References 26
Sources 31