Genocide in Rwanda: Swiss showed ‘ambivalence between words and actions’

Switzerland was a key development actor in Rwanda at the time of the 1994 genocide. Historian Thanushiyah Korn explains the nature of that relationship – and whether Switzerland could have done more to prevent the violence that claimed over 800,000 lives. In 1963, just a year after gaining independence, Rwanda became Switzerland’s first-ever priority country for development aid. Over 30 years, the Swiss spent CHF353 million ($387 million) on bilateral and multilateral projects in the small African nation.