The Rwandan Genocide: The UN Participation in Conflict Resolution

The Rwandan civil war that killed thousands and displaced millions of people was fought between the Hutus, who are the majority and the Tutsis, the minority ethnic nationality. Although, several reasons accounted for the war, however, the immediate factor was the assassination of the Rwandan President by group of unknown people while he was returning from a trip. It was alleged that the Tutsis and their supporters were responsible. Consequent upon the assassination, Rwanda descended into chaos and the Hutus engaged in systematic ethnic cleansing that culminated into genocide. Serious concerns were raised across the world on the need for resolution. Several actors indicated interest; among the international actors that intervened is: The United Nations. To a large extend, the intervention of this actor contributed to the end of the genocide in Rwanda. The thesis intends to evaluate the UN‘s approach to the resolution of the genocide in Rwanda and establish the efficacy or otherwise of the criminal investigation through the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. The analysis of this thesis would be done by qualitative method using secondary data obtained from already existing works related to the this research topic such as articles, documentaries, books, newspapers, journals and other possible electronic documents. Keywords: Rwanda, Genocide, Conflict resolution, United Nations