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Hotel Rwanda

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International Foreign Policy

Nineteen forty-five was thought to be a turning point as the Second World War came to a close. In addition, over fifty-one countries committed themselves to maintaining international peace across the globe, all with the hope of preventing future genocide. Almost forty-seven years after taking this pledge, the world turned their backs on the country of Rwanda, while Hutu extremists slaughtered almost a million Tutsis. George and Keir Pearson wrote the movie Hotel Rwanda to help expose the injustices felt by the people of Rwanda during this time. It is through the use of Colonel Oliver’s role within the movie that the lack of humanitarian intervention in the Rwandan genocide is shown. His actions as a liaison officer for the UN, as well as his unbiased views, make Colonel Oliver the perfect character to unearth the reasons behind the international community’s inaction towards the Rwandan massacre. Early on in the movie, it is noted that Canadian officer Colonel Oliver is acting on behalf of the wishes of the United Nations. This is initially appreciated in a scene with a journalist. In response to her inquiry as to whether or not the UN planned on stopping the Rwandan bloodshed, the Colonel replied, “We're here as peacekeepers, not as peacemakers. My orders are not to intervene”. This statement shows the United Nations resistance to the use of firearms shortly after the massacre in Somalia took place. The failure of the UN seen in Somalia was accounted largely to the contradictory use of weapons within a peacekeeping mission. This argument is again supported by Colonel Officer as he is quoted saying, “The government and the army are fallen into the example of what happened to the Americans in Somalia”. As a result, the peacekeeping forces within Rwanda, led by the Colonel, were prohibited to take forceful action against the Interahamwe militia. One of the most powerful scenes in Hotel Rwanda occurs in the bar of the Hotel Des Mille Collines, and is seen in an exchange between Colonel Oliver and Paul Rusesabagina. It is in this excerpt that the Colonels disgust with the United Nations inaction can most clearly be depicted as he insists that Paul not congratulate him, but rather to spit in his face. When Paul questions him, he continues on by saying that, "The West. All the superpowers. Everything you believe in, Paul. They think you're worthless...You're black! You're not even a nigger…. You're an African. They're not gonna stay, Paul. They're not gonna stop the slaughter." Moreover, Colonel Oliver is also quoted equivocating Africans to dirt within this except, again relaying the message that they are of no value. In addition to this, one of the core reasons for the West’s lack of intervention can be attributed to the absence of natural resources found in Rwanda. In essence, Rwanda is quite literally a land of dirt, void of valuable reserves of oil or coil. This scarcity of natural resources, then, results in a lack of economic gain required for countries like America to fund the deployment of troops. In addition, shortly after Colonel Oliver’s outburst in retaliation to the UN’s decisions, his claims were seen to be true as thousands of troops were removed from the turmoil in Rwanda. This left a mere three hundred troops in charge of keeping peace amongst the differing ethnic groups. Throughout the movie, one of the only instances where international intervention was witnessed was in the pursuit of the safety of foreign nationals. This differentiation is made clear in the scene where Rwandan foreigners staying at the Hotel De Mille Collines are ushered onto a bus to be transported back home. This bus, while seemingly insignificant at first glance, represents a symbol of both the separation, as well as prioritization, given to foreign nationals. At one point a white woman is actually seen looking on from the bus holding a dog in her lap. The prominence of this shot comes from the inference that the life of a dog of a white female is of more value to the West than the people of Rwanda. To add to the fact, Rwandans were, quite literally, left out in the rain as UN troops physically removed white aid workers from Rwandan victims. From the sidelines of this scene, Colonel Oliver is seen watching with a discerning eye knowing that the United Nation’s decisions are about to have serious consequences for the people of Rwanda. Colonel Oliver played a key role within the movie Hotel Rwanda by bringing to light the international communities’ inaction over the genocide taking place. Ironically, after the genocide ended in nineteen ninety-four, via Tutsi rebels of the Rwandan Patriotic Front, yet another doctrine was put into place to protect the world from the threat of genocide. This initiative, labeled Responsibility to Protect, or R2P by the United Nations, states that the international community has the responsibility to intervene, through the use of coercive measures, in instances such as that in Rwanda. It seems, then, that based on the notion that history repeats itself; there is a cyclic pattern of genocide, followed by international foreign policy, as a means of damage control that is starting to form.

References:

Quotes. (n.d.). Retrieved from www.imdb.com/title/tt0395169/quotes

Hotel Rwanda. Dir. Terry George. Perf. Don Cheadle, Sophie Okonedo and Nick Nolte. DVD. Liosgate Films, 2004.

Hotel rwanda. (2013, 09 23). Retrieved from en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hotel_Rwanda

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