Central Africa Republic, by Shea Nolan

 The Central African Republic or CAR for short is a landlocked country in Central Africa. The CAR covers a land area of about 239,383 square miles and has an estimated population of about 4.4 million. In 1960 The CAR declared its independence from France, and has since been under leadership of Presidents or Emperors. Though having many higher figures throughout its history and having various natural resource of gold, timber, diamonds and uranium, it’s among the poorest nations in the world.

              An anti-government coalition of rebels named Seleka over through President Francois Bozize, the latest in a series of coups since the nation gained independence. They accused the President of reneging on a peace deal and demanded that he step down. Months earlier the two sides came to a deal to form a unity government led by the president. The deal fell apart as the rebel group pushed north toward the capital of Bangui, while seizing towns along the way. Upon the rebels reaching the capital they sent the President fleeing to Cameroon.

            Not having a centralized government the nation plunged into chaos! Unable to control the people and having no political structure, political turmoil arose along with looter. Also, violence swept the streets where many people were injured and killed. Aid agencies arrived to help the pledged city, but were only pushed away in fear of the rebels violent acts; the rebels prevented seriously injured people from going to heath facilities. As a result, an unknown number of people have been killed in high risk areas where it’s near impossible to access by aid agencies. Those people that could escape fled into forests or areas not inhabited by rebels. About 400,000 people have been displaced according to the United Nations, that’s nearly ten percent of the population.

            Now having control of the government, the Seleka named its commander, Michel Djotodia as the new leader of the nation. As the new leader, Djotodia placed some of the rebel fighters into the army.

            Being so far away, why should we care? Well The CAR is surrounded by countries struggling to overcome from years of conflict. If this area is continuously ignored a ripple effect is bound to happen sending The CAR and the surrounding country’s into further turmoil. Furthermore, The CAR is believed to be a hideout for Joseph Kony. The United States has spent endless resources in the hunt and capture of Kony. Also, the Pentagon said it’s considering sending aircraft to assault the Kony militia. The chaos not only risks destabilizing the region, but it could complicate the Kony mission for the Untitled States.

            Taking action, the French have promised to send an additional 1,000 troops on top of the 400 that are already in place. The troops currently in place are there to protect French nationals and help secure the airport in the capital. Furthermore, the United Nations have devised a plan to introduce a peacekeeping force that would eventually replace the MISCA. It’s projected about 6,000 peacekeeper troops and 1,700 police personal will be put forth in the project.

            It’s vital that this area is brought back to health by the UN and other countries, not only for the capture of Kony, but for the greater good of the people. Also, intervention from the UN and other nations allows other rebel groups to understand that no inhumane actions will be tolerated. This would give The CAR the ability to create and form a stable democracy. 

"What’s the Deal With Syria?" by Megan Assman

            If you have turned your TV or radio to any news station lately, there is a good chance that you have heard at least a mention of the crisis in Syria.  I have been extremely intrigued about what all the fuss is about so when my professor in my Governments of the World class said that we had a chance to do a blog assignment, I decided that it would be a great opportunity to learn more about an important historical event that is currently happening. I had heard bits and pieces of the story, but I feel that unless a topic is not thoroughly researched, an opinion cannot be formed.

As Syria marks the one-year anniversary of the country’s uprising against the regime of President Bashar Assad, an estimated 7,500 people have died since the regime launched a brutal crackdown on protesters. Although Syrian activists have improved their protesting techniques of leaking photos and videos of the violence, horrible deaths, torture, and broken families to the mainstream media in the outside world, Syria’s future is still extremely uncertain.

Syria was a latecomer to the Arab Spring, a series of protests, demonstrations, and riots in the Arab world that began in December of 2010.  When Syria initially joined the Arab Spring movement the protesters did not demand that President Bashar Assad resign from his position, but instead they focused on voicing their opinion on their lack of basic freedoms that the citizens of the country were experiencing.  Security forces responded to these protests with excessively brutal force.  They shot tear gas and live ammunition into the crowd and ended up killing and severely wounding several protesters.  As anger and unrest grew due to the deaths of civilian’s, protests spread to other cities.  Assad, trying to calm the citizens, offered a series of new policies.  Officials who participated in violence would be fired, some political prisoners would be released, and the overall welfare of the citizens would be better epitomized.  The regime, however, tried to claim its innocence and blame foreign agents for the unrest in Syria.  

The violence in Syria reached a whole new level at the end of 2011.  As many as 40 people were being killed every day and the outrage continued to grow against security forces.  Loosely organized members of the Free Syrian Army staged attacks against security forces.  In December and January, two separate bombings took place in Syria’s capital, Damascus, and dozens of people were killed.  The regime blamed Al Qaeda in an effort to get public support of the regime’s crackdown and they did not stop there.  In February 2012, Assad’s regime launched an assault on the city of Homs.  Hundreds of innocent people were massacred over the course of several weeks as bombs and rockets rained down on the city.

After the events in Homs, many believed the country was destined for a civil war.  The majority of Syria’s population are Sunni Muslims, but there are also a significant number of Christian, Shia, and Alawi groups. President Assad just happens to be part of the Alawi group and Alawites “just happen” to hold many key positions in government. 

International response to the terrible events in Syria has been harsh to say the least.  President Barack Obama has called on President Assad to step down from his position and end the crisis and the chief of the United Nations, Ban Ki-Moon, has described what happened to the citizens of Homs as “unacceptable before humanity.”  The President of France, Nicholas Sarkozy, has called Assad a murderer and many other leaders across the world have said the same.  The U.N. Security Council proposed a resolution to the problem by resignation of President Assad and 13 of the Security Council’s 15 members approved, but this decision was vetoed by China and Russia. 

I am interested to see what the future holds for Syria.  Writing this blog piece has been an awesome way for me to learn more about the crisis in Syria through research and I hope that it has been an interesting read for you as well.

Sources:

http://miami.cbslocal.com/2013/09/05/understanding-the-crisis-in-syria/

http://www.usatoday.com/interactive/2759693/

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-23863012

 

Ethnic Conflicts, by Anonymous 1

            In 1994 Rwanda’s population reached seven million. Three groups were organized according to their beliefs: Hutu, Tutsi, and Twa. Hutu is the majority that makes up 86 percent of the population, and Tutsi is 14 percent. And Twa is made of 1 percent of the entire population. A decade ago, we had a genocide caused by the conflicts between two groups, Tutsi and Hutu, and the President Habyarimana was killed after his plane was shot down and crashed. Hutu decided to declare genocide against all Tutsis; they received an order from the headquarters of the rebel leader. The massive killing of Tutsi began after the death of their president.

 The Rwandan genocide resulted in eliminating Tutsis. Even though Tutsi were an ethnic minority, they did not want the majority group to occupy them. Hutu did not want to sign an agreement to share power with the minority group. Both groups disagreed and the conflict erupted like a volcano. These are some problems that people could have solved peacefully, instead of using deadly force.

The Rwandan Tutsis looked up to the UN and United States to stop this violence, but they were ignored as if nothing were happening. “Not only did international leaders reject what was going on, but they also declined for weeks to use their political and moral authority to challenge the legitimacy of the genocidal government.” Rwanda’s Tutsi were shocked and hopeless because they know they were going to get slaughtered. We always ask ourselves why the world did not react. 

             Tutsis were suffering, waiting for help until the last moment. Tutsi rebels could not do anything because they did not have enough ammunition to defeat government rebels. Secondly, France and the UN had their forces there to protect civilians, but that is not what they did. They were silent killers. Tutsi rebels were not needed until the last moment when the UN abandoned innocent civilians to get slaughtered in front of their eyes. “They refused to declare that a government guilty of exterminating its citizens would never receive international assistance.” Why did they not receive international assistance? The UN was guilty of not doing so.

The UN was in charge of protecting civilians. Even today we still ask the United Nations questions about why they did this to us; their response is still unclear. There must be someone behind this bloodbath. France gave deadly weapons to use against these civilians. According to the Human Rights Watch, the United States and the United Nations were aware of the preparations for massive slaughter and failed to take the steps needed to prevent it from happening. How come the United States of America did not stop France from supporting the killings? France was hosting the genocide in Rwanda. The international community did not investigate or question France for violating human rights. France gave machetes to the rebels that call themselves “Interahamwe,” a terrorist organization that seeks to overthrow the government using coup d’etat or using deadly force. These Interahamwe received weapons supplies from France and Tutsi had enough evidence and facts to prove how France was the behind the crimes.  

The government of France was accountable for the massive killing of innocent civilians, and it was in charge of the genocide. Even today Tutsi are being targeted in Congo by Interahamwe, and they are accused of much crime in Congo. Rwandese Patriotic Front (RPF) is hunting these criminals who committed genocide. According to Gatumba survivors, in 2004 Tutsi were targeted again in Burundi, in small city called Gatumba, where 166 lost their lives. These 166 were innocent people who fled to Burundi for their safety. Again, the international community did not do anything to bring justice. They were refuges and still got killed. The Interahamwe seemed to have violated the international law of not killing civilians. After France started the genocide, they left so that Hutu could finish up their mission. It did not take that long for RPF to react against this killing. The genocide lasted for one hundred days.

Now, Tutsi rebels have one choice of dying trying or fight against the government. At that time Paul Kagame was the rebel leader for Tutsi rebels, they decided to take an action against the government regimes. According to the United Nations Human Right Council “The civil war and genocide only ended when the Tutsi-dominated rebel group, the RPF, defeated the Hutu perpetrator regime and President Paul Kagame took control. But it was too late, 8,000 people were already being murdered. If the RPF did not defeat Hutu perpetrator Tutsi will be wiped out from Rwanda. Now the minority have been in control of the government since 1994.

France has been accused of hosting the genocide. Who can bring France to justice? Genocide survivors are still waiting for justice to be done. French government is holding some criminals from Rwandan genocide. The international court did not do anything to bring France to justice. Justice must be served fairly and equally. Rwandan government is doing its best to prevent the genocide from happening again. France does not have a diplomatic corps or an ambassador in Rwanda because they committed a crime against humanity. France is doing its best to build a good relationship with the Rwanda government. According to Lignet.com since 2007 after Nicolas Sarkozy was elected he tried to improve and restore the relationship with Rwanda.

They suffered to recover, but today Rwanda is continuing to grow and improve; and develop its economy. Today in Rwanda, if you called someone a Tutsi or Hutu you will to go to prison. It is a felony against the humanity. All citizens are equal; they do this so that they could prevent genocide. I highly recommend going to see the beauty of Rwanda and its culture.

Sources:  

http://www.unitedhumanrights.org/genocide/genocide_in_rwanda.htm

                                                                

http://www.lignet.com/InBriefs/Rwanda-France-Relations-Will-Likely-Improve-In-Aft.aspx