United States Closing Statement

I represent the United States, during the debate we were accused of not helping in Rwanda and ignoring the massacre. As we stated during the debate and according to a report from “CoverAction Quarterly” we did help by making a financial commitment to the UN Peacekeeping budget and we were trying to send in APCs to give to the Ugandan military. We were also asked why we did not send our troops in sooner. We could not send them in sooner due to the opposition from other parts of our government that we had to get approval from and then we had to await approval from the UN. The way our government system is set up we have to get approval from everyone in control of certain parts of the military. The Pentagon was strongly opposed to sending in ground troops and went against the white house. The State Department was sending out reports that counteracted what the white house was saying also. So there was much confusion that held us back further that had to be worked out before any action could be taken. Once we sorted it out and got approval from the UN we sent APCs into Uganda with a few men to train the Ugandan military how to use them. While the APCs were still being readied for action the Rwandan government collapsed and the RPF halted the massacre. We instead used the APCs to help refugees after the fact and were one of the leading countries in helping Rwandan refugees.

France and the NRMD are to blame for the Rwanda genocide. It was the NRMDs fault because they were in control of the government and if they had better tried to control their citizens they could have prevented this or stopped it sooner. Instead they threatened people’s families and forced them into fighting. They trained the Interhamwe and told them who to kill through the RTLM radio. France is to blame because according to “The Guardian” they “…backed the killers even as the bodies piled up in streets, churches, and football stadiums.” They supplied the NRMD with weapons and training and kept feeding them supplies throughout the genocide. If they had not done this the NRMD wouldn’t had as much of a chance to control the Interhamwe and most of the people murdered possibly could have been saved.

We apologize for any confusion during the debate that we may have caused. We regret what happened in Rwanda and wish that we could have acted sooner but we stand by our actions.