AEGIS ECAS 2007 - View abstract

Panel	35. Reconstruction, Reconciliation and Development in the African Great Lakes Region
Paper ID	495
Author(s)	Beswick, Danielle
Paper	No paper submitted
Abstract	This paper will critically analyse the motives for Rwandan involvement in the African Union force in Darfur. It will outline three possible explanations for this involvement. Firstly, the Rwandan ruling regime came to power by virtue of halting the 1994 genocide. Part of its legitimacy therefore stems from action against genocide and the involvement in Darfur can be considered a way of highlighting this moral authority. Secondly, choosing to supply troops for the intervention can be seen as an attempt by Rwanda, who possess a well trained and organised military, to shore up African peacekeeping initiatives in recognition of the difficulty in securing international involvement. The reluctance of the UN and the North to engage in African peacekeeping was of course tragically obvious during the Rwandan genocide. Finally, the Rwandan involvement can be seen as part of an attempt to rehabilitate the reputation of Rwanda’s African foreign policy given widespread condemnation for its role in the Congo wars from 1996-2003. The paper shows how these three motivations, when taken together, are indicative of an attempt by the Rwandan ruling regime to secure its own position, the support of the international community and a greater role in the future of African security affairs. For the North, Rwandan involvement in Darfur may herald the commitment to ‘African solutions to African problems’ by a small but militarily capable state that has thus far been largely absent. However, it must be recognised that regime security needs in Rwanda are also fulfilled by the intervention, and concerns over the regime's domestic and regional policies should not be sidelined out of appreciation for its involvement in Darfur.

Intervention, Ideology and Altruism: Rwandan Involvement in Darfur