Competition and Backstabbing: The International Response to the Rwandan Refugee Crisis, 1994–1996

Chapter 8 analyzes the international response to the 1994—1996 Rwandan refugee crisis in Ngara. The chapter begins by detailing the events that led to the Burundian and then Rwandan crises in the district. It then examines the TCRS's sectors of the aid program: water and fuel. What was novel about this “emergency” was the speed with which it occurred and the competition for visibility among aid organizations, as well as how quickly they assigned blame. The vast media attention and funding initially available pushed the humanitarian response into a maelstrom of visibility politics and in-fighting, as well as confrontations over which populations were deserving of aid. The UNHCR's insistence that program planning remain in the emergency phase then hindered agencies' ability to properly plan and administer much-needed aid to the growing refugee population.