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 is a Coup d’état? by Megan Assman

            In my Governments of the World class, we had a brief discussion about the definition of a coup d’état and were shown a few examples of it.  I do not feel that I fully understood what a coup d’état was, so I am using my second blog as a reason to do some in depth research and learn some examples of what this word really means.  I searched for an in-depth definition and I found just that in the Britannica encyclopedia which states: “coup d’état, also called Coup, the sudden, violent overthrow of an existing government by a small group. The chief prerequisite for a coup is control of all or part of the armed forces, the police, and other military elements. Unlike a revolution, which is usually achieved by large numbers of people working for basic social, economic, and political change, a coup is a change in power from the top that merely results in the abrupt replacement of leading government personnel. A coup rarely alters a nation’s fundamental social and economic policies, nor does it significantly redistribute power among competing political groups. Among the earliest modern coups were those in which Napoleon overthrew the Directory on Nov. 9, 1799 and in which Louis Napoleon dissolved the assembly of France’s Second Republic in 1851. Coups were a regular occurrence in various Latin American nations in the 19th and 20th centuries and in Africa after the countries there gained independence in the 1960s.”

            18 Brumaire refers to the coup d’état by which General Napoleon Bonaparte overthrew the French Directory, replacing it with the Consulate. In 1799, members of the Directory, a body of five directors that held executive power in France, conspired with Napoleon to take over the French government by means of a coup d’état.  It was successful, and Napoleon quickly asserted his superior intelligence and will over others. By 1802 he had full power and by 1804, he proclaimed himself Emperor Napoleon I.  This period of European history from 1799 to 1815 is generally known as the Napoleonic Age. Not only did Napoleon gain power in France, but also much of continental Europe.

The Czechoslovak coup d’état of 1948 often called the Czech coup, was an event in late February of that year in which the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia with the backing of the Soviets, assumed control over the government of Czechoslovakia and with this control ushered in over four decades of dictatorship under its rule. The coup’s significance extended far beyond the country’s boundaries, as it was a clear marker along the already full fledged Cold War. The West greeted the event with full shock and helped spur quick adoption of the Marshall Plan, the creation of a state in West Germany, vigorous measures were created to keep the Communists out of power in France and Italy, and steps toward mutual security that resulted in the establishment of NATO in a little over a year and the conclusive drawing of the Iron Curtain until the Autumn of Nations in 1989.

The Cuban Revolution was a civil war that took place in Cuba between December 2, 1956, and January 2, 1959. The guerilla forces led by Fidel Castro, fought against the government army, under Fulgencio Batista, a dictator who had got into power through a military coup in 1952.  With an armed militia of only 80 members, Fidel Castro and his brother Raul had sailed from Mexico to Cuba and landed on Las Coloradas beach, on the south coast of the island on December 2, 1956. They were defeated in the first military engagement with the government, but the surviving members penetrated the Cuban jungles of Sierra Maestra where they recruited more men, collected more weapons, and became better organized. The 80-member militia grew into thousands.  The civil war lasted three years.  Under the command of Camilo Cienfuegos, Juan Almeida Bosques, and Ernesto Guevara, they carried out surprise attacks on the government.  On December 30, 1958, Camilo Cienfuego defeated a unit of 300 men at the Battle of Yaguajay. On December 31, the very next day, three guerrilla units defeated Batista’s army again at the Battle of Santa Clara. Having heard of his defeat, Batista left the island of Cuba and went into exile to the Dominican Republic. Most of the Cuban people supported Castro’s revolution because he had promised them to bring back democracy and freedom to Cuba. However, Fidel Castro was a master of lies and aligned with the Soviet Union and the European Eastern block of communist nations, setting up a new dictatorship in Cuba, which would last many times longer than the one before it, subjecting the island extreme poverty.

 Sources

http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/140445/coup-detat

http://historywarsweapons.com/

http://list25.com/25-most-violent-military-coups/

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