As April begins, Rwanda commemorates the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, a time to reflect on the events of 31 years ago and the complicity—both direct and indirect—of various actors, particularly from the West. While the role of the United Nations, France, and Belgium has often been scrutinized, certain individuals remain overlooked, including the former U.S. Ambassador to Rwanda, David Rawson. Rawson’s tenure as ambassador is a stark example of negligence, passivity, or even deliberate inaction in the face of unfolding genocide, making him one of the silent accomplices of the genocidal regime. After the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) defeated the genocidal government, Paul Kagame, then Vice President and Minister of Defense, remarked: “Rawson was a disaster as an Ambassador for the United States in this country.” David Rawson’s Background Born in Addison, Michigan, David Rawson was the son of Dr. Perry Rawson, a Quaker medical missionary from the Evangelical Friends Church of Burundi. The church, founded by Reverend Arthur Chilson in 1933, expanded its influence across Burundi over the years. Upon arriving in Burundi in 1947, Dr. Perry Rawson took charge of the church’s expansion. However, his mission faced resistance from King Mwambutsa IV Bangiricenge, who reportedly opposed its spread. This opposition allegedly fueled Perry Rawson’s deep resentment toward the Tutsi community. His time in Burundi coincided with Belgium’s colonial rule and the Catholic Church’s increasing involvement in ethnic politics, further exacerbating tensions between Hutus and Tutsis. The 1993 massacre of 70 Tutsi students at a service station in Kwibuka, Bujumbura is believed to have ties to the divisions sown during this era. The legacy of Perry Rawson’s animosity toward the Tutsi appears to have been passed down to his son, David Rawson, who later played a pivotal role in shaping U.S. policy in Rwanda. Ambassador Rawson and the Genocide Against the Tutsi In his article Predicting and Preventing Intrastate Violence: Lessons from Rwanda, Rawson argued that Rwanda’s history of autocratic rule and centralized violence laid the groundwork for the 1994 genocide. This perspective downplayed the systematic planning of genocide by the Habyarimana regime and instead suggested a broader historical inevitability. During his tenure in Rwanda, Rawson was widely seen as sympathetic to President Juvénal Habyarimana’s government. Even as the genocide unfolded, he hesitated to label the mass killings as genocide. His reluctance was echoed by U.S. State Department spokesperson Christine Shelley, who refrained from using the term, acknowledging that it carried significant implications. Kagame criticized Rawson’s failure to grasp Rwanda’s political landscape, arguing that if the ambassador had provided better counsel to Washington, the genocide might have been prevented. Furthermore, when international actors, including the Belgian ambassador and aid agencies, raised alarms about the role of Radio Télévision Libre des Mille Collines (RTLM) in inciting violence, Rawson dismissed the concerns, citing the U.S. commitment to free speech. This stance allowed the extremist radio station to continue broadcasting hate speech that fueled the killings. While Belgium and France arranged to airlift their citizens from Rwanda, Rawson opted for a different approach. On April 9, 1994, he organised an overland evacuation of American citizens, sending U.S. Marines to Burundi as a contingency plan. Out of 255 Americans in Rwanda, only a few chose to stay. Notably, Rwandan local staff were left behind, and when asked if any Tutsis were among those evacuated, Rawson admitted that none were included, except for one family with American children. A legacy of complicity During the genocide, Rawson remained largely silent. According to the Human Rights Office in New York, his reluctance to act was rooted in personal biases against the Tutsi, a sentiment inherited from his father’s failed mission in Burundi. Rakiya Omaar, a renowned international human rights lawyer and activist wrote in her book, ‘Death, Despair, and Defiance’, noted that Perry Rawson blamed the Batutsi of Burundi for his unsuccessful church expansion. His son, David Rawson, seemingly carried this resentment into his diplomatic career, aligning with the genocidal regime rather than opposing it. For these reasons, Ambassador David Rawson is remembered in Rwanda as a failure—an envoy whose inaction and misjudgment contributed to one of the darkest chapters in human history.
