Genocide in the Great Lakes: Which Genocide? Whose Genocide?

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Periodical article

Title:	Genocide in the Great Lakes: Which Genocide? Whose Genocide?
Author:	Lemarchand, René
Year:	1998
Periodical:	African Studies Review
Volume:	41
Issue:	1
Period:	April
Pages:	3-16
Language:	English
Geographic term:	Burundi
Subjects:	genocide Ethnic and Race Relations Politics and Government Law, Human Rights and Violence Peoples of Africa (Ethnic Groups)
External link:	https://www.jstor.org/stable/524678
Abstract:	Over the last three years no other country in the African continent has received more assiduous attention from so many conflict-resolution experts than Burundi. That these experts failed to come anywhere near achieving any of their objectives is not too surprising if one considers the depth of the antagonism pitting Hutu against Tutsi. The present author argues that the 1972 killings of Hutu by Tutsi in Burundi must be seen as the key factor that profoundly altered the image that one had of the 'other'. Unless a concerted effort is made to get closer to the facts, justice and reconciliation will not be possible. These facts must include the circumstances, the scale and the consequences of the genocide of Hutu by Tutsi in Burundi (1972), of Tutsi and Hutu by Hutu in Rwanda (1994), and of Hutu by Tutsi in Congo (1996-1997). As long as this does not happen, the collective memory of Hutu and Tutsi will continue to enshrine the same myths, with little hope in sight that the killing may stop. Bibliogr., notes, ref., sum. in English and French.