Rwanda: Observing the Rules of War?

Both Rwandan government troops and adversary rebel forces of the Army for the Liberation of Rwanda (ALIR) have given civilians greater protection in the conflict in Rwanda’s northwest in 2001, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. As these forces continue to confront each other in the eastern Congo, Human Rights Watch called on both sides to impose the same discipline on their combatants in any new clashes. In contrast to previous combat in northwestern Rwanda where thousands of civilians were slain by both government army and rebel forces, the most recent episode inside Rwanda of the ongoing central African war cost relatively few civilian lives. The report, “Rwanda: Observing the Rules of War?” documents the findings of field research into combat in the northwest of Rwanda from May to July, based on interviews with civilians, combatants, and former combatants. Evidence shows that both government and rebel forces imposed new rules restricting attacks on civilians in the internal conflict, enforcing these through disciplinary measures. In stark contrast, the new rules did not apply to fighting by the Rwandan army and its proxies in eastern Congo’s Kivu region or to ALIR’s forces there. ALIR forces inside Rwanda also persisted in past patterns of looting and the use of child soldiers.