Genocide in Rwanda: Swiss showed ‘ambivalence between words and actions’

Switzerland was a key development actor in Rwanda at the time of the 1994 genocide. Historian Thanushiyah Korn explains the nature of that relationship – and whether Switzerland could have done more to prevent the violence that claimed over 800,000 lives. In 1963, just a year after gaining independence, Rwanda became Switzerland’s first-ever priority country for development aid. Over 30 years, the Swiss spent CHF353 million ($387 million) on bilateral and multilateral projects in the small African nation. Then, in 1994, Switzerland faced difficult questions about donor accountability following the genocide against the Tutsi ethnic group orchestrated by Hutu extremists of the regime in power. The Swiss foreign ministry commissioned a study, led by a former senior public official, Joseph Voyame, into Swiss development engagement in Rwanda. The 1996 report exonerated the Swiss development agency (SDC), citing the unpredictable nature and scale of events, even though it said the agency ...