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The Use and Perception of Weapons Before and After Conflict: Evidence from Rwanda

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The Use and Perception of Weapons Before and After Conflict: Evidence from Rwanda 2 The Use and Perception of Weapons before and after Conflict: Evidence from Rwanda By Cécelle Meijer and Philip Verwimp A WorkingMeijer Paper and of Verwimp� the Small Weapons, Arms Conflict, Survey and Rwanda Contents Tables About the authors ....................................................................................................................................................................................... 4 Table 1 Perception of the machete before and after the genocide Acknowledgements ................................................................................................................................................................................ 5 Table 2 Perception of the machete and household characteristics: a multinomial analysis Acronyms and abbreviations ................................................................................................................................................. 6 Table 3 Firearms that were observed before 1994 in seven rural Map 1: Rwanda ............................................................................................................................................................................................... 7 communities in Gitarama province Introduction ......................................................................................................................................................................................................... 9 Table 4 Persons who carried weapons in rural communities Table 5 The impact of firearms during the genocide Research questions ............................................................................................................................................................................... 10 Table 6 Socio-economic characteristics, ethnicity, and firearms: A short history of civil war and genocide ..................................................................................................... 11 descriptive data Research methods ................................................................................................................................................................................... 14 Table 7 Killed or threatened by a firearm? A bivariate logistic The machete: a tool or a weapon? ............................................................................................................................... 16 regression Assault rifles, grenades, and ex-soldiers ......................................................................................................... 20 The impact of firearms during the genocide ............................................................................................ 23 Results from the quantitative survey ....................................................................................................................... 23 Socio-economic status, ethnicity, and firearms ......................................................................................... 23 Observations in selected localities ................................................................................................................................ 26 The disappearance of arms after the genocide ...................................................................................... 28 Tambata: a case study ..................................................................................................................................................................... 29 Winning local support for the killings .................................................................................................................... 29 The use of arms ............................................................................................................................................................................................ 30 The spread of arms during and before the genocide ....................................................................... 31 Weapon training .......................................................................................................................................................................................... 32 The current situation ........................................................................................................................................................................... 33 Conclusion .......................................................................................................................................................................................................... 34 Endnotes ................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 36 Bibliography .................................................................................................................................................................................................... 38 Small Arms Survey Working Paper 2 Meijer and Verwimp� Weapons, Conflict, and Rwanda About the authors Acknowledgements Cécelle Meijer ([email protected]) studied policy, communication, The authors would like to thank Jacob Boersema, Jerome Chaplier, Arlette and organization at the Free University in Amsterdam and International Brone, Bert Ingelaere, Shanley Pinchotti, Marij Spiesschaert, Inge Thiry, and Relations at the Catholic University of Leuven. Her research interests are in our Rwandan research assistants for their contribution to the fieldwork. We the field of peace and conflict studies. also want to thank Eric Berman, Kene Ezemenari, Tania Inowlocki, Christina Wille, and Jorge Restrepo whose comments significantly improved the paper. Philip Verwimp obtained his PhD in Economics at the Catholic University The views expressed in this article do not represent those of the World Bank. of Leuven with a dissertation on the political economy of development and genocide in Rwanda. He lectured in Leuven and was a poverty economist with the World Bank. His articles have appeared in several well-known journals. Philip is currently lecturing in economic development and conflict at the Institute of Social Studies, The Hague. Small Arms Survey Working Paper 2 Meijer and Verwimp� Weapons, Conflict, and Rwanda Acronyms and abbreviations Map� : Rwanda DRC DemocraticDemocratic Republic of the Congo FAR Forces armées rwandaises, Rwandan military UGANDA HRW Human Rights Watch UNITED REPUBLIC IDP internallyinternally displaced person DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF LDF Local Defence Forces OF THE TANZANIA CONGO Ruhengeri Byumba MRND Mouvement révolutionnaire national pour le développement RUHENGERI UMUTARA BYUMBA RPA Rwandan Patriotic Army, RPF successor Gisenyi GISENYI RPF Rwandan Patriotic Front, rebel army Kigali Kibuye Gitarama KIGALI-NGALI KIBUNGO KIBUYE Ruyumba GITARAMA Kibungo GIKONGORO CYANGUGU RWANDA Nyamagabe BUTARE Cyangugu Surveyed area National capital Butare Prefecture capital BURUNDI International boudary Prefecture boudary 0 30 60 90 Water bodies Kilometres Sources: NIMA Vmap0, WHO SALB 2000, UN Cartographic Section Small Arms Survey Working Paper 2 Meijer and Verwimp� Weapons, Conflict, and Rwanda Introduction The majority of Rwanda’s population considers itself Hutu (more than 80 per cent), whereas a smaller group is referred to as Tutsi (about 15 per cent). The Twa are the smallest minority. In 1994, after four years of civil war, Rwanda descended into genocide. The Tutsi minority was the main target, but Hutu and Twa who were not willing to participate in the killings were also murdered. In fewer than three months, more than 500,000 people were brutally slaughtered. Images of people wielding machetes at each other remain vivid to this day. Indeed, the machete has become the symbol of the Rwandan tragedy. In addi- tion to this traditional tool, however, a variety of weapons and tools were used to execute the killings. Recent quantitative research using a large-scale database of victims of geno- Local wars and military conflicts draw not only on regional tensions, cide in Kibuye province shows that more young male adults with non-farm but also on the global trade in arms and weapons. 2003 1 —Amartya Sen, Nobel Laureate, 2001 occupations were killed with firearms than any other group (Verwimp, ). This data also reveals that firearms, often in combination with grenades, were more frequently used in certain locations and events than in others; in partic- ular, they were used in large-scale massacres in which many Tutsi were killed simultaneously in the same location, such as the Gatwaro football stadium in the city of Kibuye, where thousands of people were killed.2 That young Tutsi who were working in the modern sector of the economy had a higher probability of being killed with firearms is linked to factors con- straining the behaviour of the perpetrators: they had to save ammunition and thus used firearms only against people who could mount resistance (Melvern, 2004).3 Consequently, the victims of firearms were young to middle-aged men with a respected status in the community. Moreover, the use of firearms and grenades—particularly wherever many Tutsi had gathered—was a cost- efficient approach to mass killings. Small Arms Survey Working Paper 2 Meijer and Verwimp� Weapons, Conflict, and Rwanda Research questions A short history of civil war and genocide In building upon earlier research, this study asks and addresses questions
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