Genocide does not occur spontaneously. While warning signs can vary from case to case, there are common indicators that suggest a growing potential for genocide. Some of these signs can be found within a society's history. The potential for genocide, however, increases when leaders decide to heighten tensions between groups and make specific plans to use violence.

DR Congo

Throughout its colonial period and into the present, Congo's rulers have exploited the country's vast natural resources for their own profit. Long-serving President Mobutu Sese Seko pitted ethnic groups against each other in an effort to sustain power and violently oppressed opposition. More»

Sudan

Since independence, Sudan has been dominated by a ruling elite in the capital Khartoum, which has overseen almost constant war in the nation’s peripheral regions. Both the war in the south and the ongoing conflict in Darfur have been characterized by crimes against humanity, with the conflict in Darfur amounting to genocide. More»

Chechnya, Russia

In 1944 the entire Chechen population was deported. When the Soviet Union broke apart in the 1990s, a Chechen nationalist independence movement gained momentum. The Russians responded with force. More»

Bosnia-Herzegovina

A history of regional violence was resurrected by new leaders to support nationalist goals. In summer 1995, Bosnian Serb plans to create an ethnically cleansed state culminated in preparations to take the last UN safe havens in eastern Bosnia. More»

Rwanda

Amid increasing economic and political tensions, and an armed threat from a Tutsi-led rebel group, Hutu extremists prepared to assault the entire Tutsi minority population. More»

Burundi

Tensions between Burundi's ruling Tutsi elite and majority Hutu population have marked the country's post-independence history, leading to several periods of instability, among the worst in 1972 when an estimated 200,000 people were killed. More»