hISTORY eNDS EVERYWHERE:

The international community betrayed Rwanda in the run-up to the 1994 anti-Tutsi genocide. Simply put, the Hutu genocide against the Tutsi need not have occurred, but cynical French politicians instigated it. UN betrayal continued after the genocide. After the Rwandan Patriotic Front commanded by Paul Kagame drove the Hutu génocidaires out of the country, UN forces neither disarmed them nor separated them from legitimate refuges, but instead welcomed them into camps in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) just a few miles from the Rwandan border. That UN inaction in effect gave the armed génocidaires control over a new generation of refugees to indoctrinate and from which to recruit, contributed to the erosion of DRC stability and control, and ultimately sparked Rwandan intervention in eastern Congo. Ironically, while some Western aid workers and human rights groups grouse about Rwandan involvement in eastern Congo, DRC leaders embrace the Rwanda partnership.

For Rwanda, however, security and the need to fight against terror and those who would perpetrate genocide is no longer only an issue for their borders. As rebels marched on the Central African Republic's capital Bangui late last year, Rwanda came to the rescue. The small African state deployed its forces 1,500 miles without any foreign assistance to prevent an imminent massacre and political chaos.

While the Central African Republic may have stabilized, Mozambique has increasingly teetered against the backdrop of an Islamic State insurgency it has had difficulty stamping out. China is more interested in extracting resources than ensuring stability and neither President Joe Biden nor Secretary of State Antony Blinken have shown any interest in Africa. Neglect, however, is not a counterterrorism strategy. Enter Rwanda. Earlier today, the Government of Rwanda announced that, at the request of Mozambique, it would "today start the deployment of a 1,000-person contingent of the Rwanda Defence Force (RDF) and the Rwanda National Police (RNP) to Cabo Delgado Province, Mozambique" to secure and stabilize the region in cooperation with the Southern African Development Community. It is the right move.

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