GPPi researcher calls for examination of Germany’s role during the genocide in Rwanda

On 7 April 2014 the Heinrich Böll Foundation published a study by GPPi Researcher Sarah Brockmeier on Germany’s role during the Rwandan genocide, which began 20 years ago this month. In the study (available in German only), Brockmeier examines German policy before, during and after the genocide.

Rwanda was part of Germany’s colonies until 1916. After Rwanda’s independence in 1962 Germany became one of the country’s biggest aid donors. Brockmeier shows that Germany increased its development aid in Rwanda in the early 1990s even though many German development workers in the country reported warning signs of the potential outbreak of large scale violence.

After the violence escalated into a genocide in April 1994, Germany declined to support the humanitarian effort of the UN mission in Rwanda despite a request by the UN Secretariat. It also refused to take in refugees from the country.

Brockmeier concludes that a thorough examination of the German role before and during the genocide could yield important lessons for Germany on the early warning and prevention of genocides, the value of political mediation, and the support of UN peacekeeping operations.

In a radio interview with German radio station Deutschlandradio Kultur on 4 April 2014, Brockmeier argued the current German development minister’s position on the Central African Republic reveals that he has not learned anything from the Rwandan genocide. Despite thousands of deaths in recent months and calls across all UN organizations in the country for more UN peacekeepers on the ground, the minister stated during a recent visit that he did not see the need for UN soldiers in the Central African Republic.

There has been a lack of public discussion on the events that unfolded in Rwanda in 1994, said Brockmeier during a recent discussion hosted by the Green Party with survivors of the genocide in the German parliament.