WI President of Rwanda not assassinated in 1994?

[AYoungContrarian]

On April 6, 1994, Rwandan President Juvénal Habyarimana was assassinated. Habyarimana, a Hutu (one of Rwanda's two main ethnic groups, along with the Tutsis), had negotiated a ceasefire with Tutsi rebels. His assassination was the catalyst that started the Rwandan Genocide, in which 500,000 to 1 million Tutsis were murdered by the government.

This got me thinking: if Habyarimana hadn't been assassinated, could the genocide have been prevented? Tensions were simmering beneath the surface for quite some time, but perhaps a ceasefire could have stayed in effect. What do you guys think?

[yourworstnightmare]

The Interhamwe would have started to run around killing people sooner or later anyways.

[ThomasTheviking]

Originally Posted by yourworstnightmare

The Interhamwe would have started to run around killing people sooner or later anyways.

I agree. But maybe with the president in power, it would have been possible to request more military support from Western countries.....who were indeed in OTL more willing to sit by and watch 100.000s getting slaughtered. An ATL preventing the genocide would be more pleasant reading, than the OTL for sure .

[AYoungContrarian]

Originally Posted by ThomasTheviking

I agree. But maybe with the president in power, it would have been possible to request more military support from Western countries.....who were indeed in OTL more willing to sit by and watch 100.000s getting slaughtered. An ATL preventing the genocide would be more pleasant reading, than the OTL for sure .

Yeah, I agree. We're watching "Hotel Rwanda" in my class, and the way the governments handled the genocide was disgusting.

[HeavyWeaponsGuy]

Originally Posted by SVeach94

Yeah, I agree. We're watching "Hotel Rwanda" in my class, and the way the governments handled the genocide was disgusting.

Yep, we watched a documentary on it one time, the world that had so thoroughly insisted that it would never happen again stood by and watched a genocide happen.