THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, July 28, 1994 TAG: 9407280018
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A14 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Editorial
LENGTH: Short : 50 lines
Americans woke up yesterday morning to discover that American troops were about to be dispatched to an out-of-the-way African country on a humanitarian-relief effort.
This sounds awfully familiar.
Up until yesterday, U.S. efforts to alleviate the situation in Rwanda had been confined to providing food, water and medical treatment for literally millions of Hutu refugees who had made their way into Zaire and other neighboring countries after a Tutsi-dominated government triumphed in Rwanda's civil war. The Hutus fear a massacre by the new government. Thousands have since died of cholera and other diseases in squalid refugee camps. The world has understandably responded with sympathy and offers of assistance.
Sending U.S. forces into Rwanda itself, however, represents a significant extension of the U.S. aid effort. Under the plans that were announced yesterday, the U.S. troops would be stationed at the airport in the Rwandan capital of Kigali. Their task is to establish a ``relief network'' that will encourage the refugees to return home from Zaire and elsewhere.
As in Somalia, the aim of the effort is indeed laudable. And, also like Somalia, this mission contains the seeds of a ``nation-building'' exercise that could end in disaster. From ensuring the distribution of food in Somalia, U.S. forces found themselves endeavoring to build a government in that country, an effort that ended in disaster and death for 18 U.S. Army Rangers last October.
Success is also one of the dangers in an operation such as this. Suppose the presence of U.S. forces does encourage large numbers of Hutu refugees to return to their homes. It then becomes difficult, politically, to withdraw the forces that brought the peace. As a British politician once said, one of the lessons of Northern Ireland is that it very easy to send the army in; it can be very difficult getting the army back out again.
The armed forces deserve tremendous credit for the effort they have put out on behalf of the Rwandan refugees. Once again, the armed forces have demonstrated their ability to get the job done when the chips are down, and in spite of continued budget cuts.
But the political leadership may be failing the men and women in uniform. Sending U.S. forces into Rwanda itself - in light of past experience - seems very unwise. The president could be stumbling into another foreign-policy quagmire with no clear way out. by CNB