Aid and Conflict in Rwanda

This assignment analyzes the complex relationship between war, peace, and foreign aid in Rwanda. It examines both positive and negative consequences of aid, conditions imposed by donors, and the impact of aid on Rwandan leadership and poverty levels. The paper argues that while aid has been crucial for recovery, its distribution and focus have contributed to ongoing inequalities and ethnic tensions, highlighting the need for a more equitable and sustainable approach to aid in conflict-affected nations.

Running head: WAR AND AID IN RWANDA
WAR AND AID IN RWANDA
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The paper discusses the various aspects of war and peace that influence greatly in the
attraction and proper distribution of the foreign aids among the developing countries. This
paper critically analyses the positive and negative impacts of war and peace in aid in Rwanda,
discusses the conditions laid by the donor nation and asses the response of the leadership in
this matter. This paper further analyses the effectiveness of extensions of aids in reducing
poverty in the war-stricken Rwanda.
Impact of foreign aids:
The foreign aids had been extended to the war-torn sub-Saharan country Rwanda but
this had some positive and negative effects in the society and situation of the people of the
place. Foreign aids have always been associated with the relation of exchanging conditions
between the donor nations and the receiving countries. The donors always expect their aids to
have a positive effective on the society of the suffered nations from both the economic and
political perspectives (Wilén, 2016). According to the theorists, structural adjustment
programs that aims to withdrawing of public administration by privatizing the public
companies, reducing military and other administrative expenditure will be beneficial for the
country. It will be profiting the economy of the country by reducing the poverty and
bankruptcy. From the political perspective, it is necessary for the country to bring economic
reforms only then wit will have a stable government.
However, these factors are not always obeyed by the receiving countries. The foreign
aids lead their governments to become unworried about the current problems and do little in
terms of improving the condition of its people (Wood & Sullivan, 2015). In case of Rwanda,
the government had received a considerable amount of foreign aids from the World Bank and
International Monetary Fund despite the fact that the country did not live up to the criterion

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of the IMF. The government of Rwanda made significant progress by introducing economic
reforms and sending its army in the peacekeeping missions.
Conditions imposed by Donors:
Before the war-stricken country receive the aids, the donors and recipients have some
mutual agreements on sets of principles, promise terms and conditions that will be followed
by both the countries (Mac Ginty, 2016). The donor countries or institutions pledge
continuous support based on the level of commitment of the recipient country that adhere to
the promises and agreement. Recipient nations promise to take initiatives to restore
democracy, combat corruption, recover expenditure in the social circles as well as reduce the
military expenses.
The government of Rwanda promised to restore the situation as soon as possible and
have inclusive growth in near future (Narang, 2015). This continued aid was tied with the
pledges for development in both ideal political as well as economic conditions of the country.
Impact of Foreign Aid in Leadership and Poverty Level of Rwanda:
The civil war and genocide is a unique case where the government of Rwanda
received foreign aids. Despite the fact that several years have passed after the war, the
country still experiences repression (Coleman et al., 2017). The foreign aid aimed to reach
every section of the society and alleviate poverty with other bad conditions but it had been
perpetuating the crisis in the nation. This is because that a major portion of the foreign aids
had been utilised to keep the minority groups here the Tutsis under control as they were the
poor section.
The leaders of the country promised to maintain balance in the income of people to
decrease poverty in the society within given time but to restore social peace, the increasing
level of inequality had been the obstacle to the determinations of the poverty reduction as

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well as promotion of sustainable growth. In addition to this, the ethnic conflict also disrupted
and jeopardized the initiative against poverty (Buss, 2014). This ethnic violence or
antagonism also affected the economic inequality disturbing the economic policies of the
government.
Despite all these, the international communities have been continuing to extend aids
to Rwanda which is eventually empowering the Tutsis, the minorities over the Hutus. Now
the situation has become more grave as the majorities are being deprived of the national
resources therefore these people are find to be dissatisfied with their livelihood which may
again bring threat for the country’s peace.
Therefore, it can be concluded that to restore peace and have inclusive growth, the
cycle of long-term governance must be broken. The donors must revise their foreign aid
policies with Rwanda to ensure that their disbursed aids reach and serve the needs of all the
Rwandese public irrespective of their ethnic backgrounds and geographical locations.

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References:
Buss, D. (2014). Expert Witnesses and International War Crimes Trials: Making Sense of
Large-Scale Violence in Rwanda. In Narratives of Justice In and Out of the
Courtroom(pp. 23-44). Springer International Publishing.
Coleman, K. P., Tieku, T. K., & English, M. D. (2017). African Actors in International
Security: Shaping Contemporary Norms.
Mac Ginty, R. (2016). No war, no peace: the rejuvenation of stalled peace processes and
peace accords. Springer.
Narang, N. (2015). Assisting uncertainty: how humanitarian aid can inadvertently prolong
civil war. International Studies Quarterly, 59(1), 184-195.
Wilén, N. (2016). From Foe to Friend? army integration after war in Burundi, Rwanda and
the Congo. International Peacekeeping, 23(1), 79-106.
Wood, R. M., & Sullivan, C. (2015). Doing harm by doing good? The negative externalities
of humanitarian aid provision during civil conflict. The Journal of Politics, 77(3),
736-748.