One of more than 7.000 mostly Hutu inmates at the overcrowded Gitarama prison stares out from behind the bars. Some 120 inmates were transferred by the UN in an effort to try to relieve overcrowding.
Speaking Out Case Studies

The violence of the new Rwandan regime 1994-1995

The ‘Violence of the new Rwandan regime' case study is describing the difficulties and dilemmas that Médecins Sans Frontières faced in 1994 and 1995 when confronted with the abuses and crimes of the new regime that had taken over in Rwanda in July 1994. 

Was it acceptable for MSF, having denounced the génocidaires'control over the Rwandan refugees in Zaire and Tanzania, to encourage the return of these refugees to Rwanda, given the insecurity that potentially awaited them? Did MSF have a responsibility to alert them to what was occurring in Rwanda? Could MSF - after having issued a call for an international armed intervention to put an end to the genocide - now criticise the regime that had effectively done so, thereby risking accusations of favouring the génocidaires and supporting the revisionists? Should MSF keep silent in order to continue caring for detainees who might otherwise die in the appalling prison conditions ?

Collection MSF Speaking Out

To cite this content :
Laurence Binet, “The violence of the new Rwandan regime 1994-1995”, 3 avril 2014, URL : https://msf-crash.org/en/war-and-humanitarianism/violence-new-rwandan-regime-1994-1995

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