Food, Beer, and Hate

The first two were all it took for one of the Rwandan genocidaires to motivate his killer militias. The third, they brought with them.

AllAfrica.com's postings expire pretty quickly, so here's an excerpt for you.

A former employee with the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), Simon Nshamihigo, recruited, armed and ordered Interahamwe militia to massacre Tutsi and moderate Hutus, the Tanzania-based UN Court heard on Monday. [...]

Senior Trial Attorney Alphonse Van said that despite his position as a Rwandan Prosecutor and Judge, Nshamihigo allegedly recruited, armed and ordered the Interahamwe militia to massacre Tutsi civilians and moderates from the Hutu opposition who he considered traitors and accomplices of the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF). [...]

Nshamihigo also allegedly rewarded members of the Interahamwe with food and beer for participating in the massacres.

Just think on that for a moment. After having lived through the past century, we're accustomed to the idea of implacable ideologies driving people to commit horrible acts. But food and beer? As if, maybe if there hadn't been any food or beer, some of the killers would have begged off?

What a species...