Rwanda and Syria: An Unexpected Relation

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Syria is clearly showing signs of becoming another Rwandan crisis, while a distinct incidence of a genocide has yet occurred, the massive loss of Sunni Syrian lives and displaced peoples has reached a rate that mirrors that of the 1994 genocide.[13] In fact, the Genocide Convention defines the acts of crimes against humanity in Syria as a genocide, stating that any acts committed with the intentions of wiping out a national, ethical, racial or religious group through massive group killings and deliberate harm to the group is considered genocide.[14] These crimes are currently being committed by the Syrian regime, in an effort to eliminate part of the Sunni population. It is of dire importance to understand the political rift and historical rivalry that occurred in Rwanda, so that the ineffective efforts and mistakes from the international community are not repeated with Syria. While the United States military are actively backing the Sunni rebels against the Syrian government, there still lacks humanitarian assistance for the displaced people of Syria seeking refuge from the violence and atrocities in their country. If Syria continues upon the path of civil war, and the international community repeats the same inactions seen in the Rwandan conflict, it is inevitable that a genocide of the Sunni people even more devastating than that of Rwanda will occur.

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