The Rwandan genocide happened in the late 20th century in the heart of Africa. It was caused by hatred among local tribes in Rwanda. The two larger tribes were named the Hutus and the other the Tutsis. The Hutus greatly outnumbered the Tutsis mainly because the Hutus were the poorer people of the country and therefore were greater in number than the richer, more upper class Tutsis. The Church had taught and showed how the Hutus were oppressed and should fight back. Ever since the mid 1950’s, the Hutus resented the Tutsis.
On April 6, 1994, The Hutu president was shot down while in his plane over Kigali, the Hutu capital. For the Hutus, this was the last straw. Hutu radios quickly broadcasted hate messages which demoralized the Tutsis, saying that they were the ones to blame for the death along with the Hutu moderates who seemed to be allied with the Tutsis. Eventually the Hutu extremists emerged and their goal was to kill every Tutsi person alive in Rwanda. In just a few months, this massacre would amount to about 800,000 deaths.
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| General Romeo Dallaire |
At first, even before the genocide started, the UN (United Nations) responded by putting General Romeo Dallaire in charge of 2,600 UN troops. These troops were mainly Belgians because Belgium was in control of Rwanda at that time. It therefore felt obligated to keep peace between the tribes. This force was named UNAMIR (United Nations Assistance Mission in Rwanda). They were told to go on a peacekeeping mission to Rwanda to make sure a fight does not break out between the two tribes. General Dallaire had never been a peacekeeper before but he sure was determined to do his best. Dallaire was ordered not to attack or disarm the raging Hutus. They were simply there to protect the Tutsis from harm. For this reason, Dallaire quickly felt that he was unable to stop the genocide from happening. Dallaire may have been the leader, but he felt that nothing could be done without adequate troops, ammunition, and other supplies. He asked for more, but it was turned down by the UN. Dallaire argued by saying that all he needed was 5,000 troops and the order to disarm the Hutus and the genocide would be over quickly. The head of the UN, Kofi Annan, again turned the demand down.
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| UNAMIR troops |
In the early stages of the genocide, Dallaire sent ten Belgian peacekeepers to guard the Hutu prime minister who was a Hutu moderate. These soldiers were later tortured and killed. Once the Belgians found out the news, they blamed Dallaire for failing to protect their troops. They wanted to retreat all of their peacekeepers in Rwanda. After this withdrawal of troops, few remained. Then Dallaire’s nightmare came true. On April 21, the UN recalled all peacekeepers, and only after Dallaire pleaded for some remaining forces was he allowed a small troop count of 270. UNAMIR was gone. When the UN recalled all troops back to their nations, it included Dallaire. However, he saw first-hand what was happening in Rwanda, and he saw the helpless people getting slaughtered every day by machetes and other hand weapons. He chose to stay behind and do whatever he could to help the Tutsis stay alive with the resources and manpower he had left. For example, Dallaire tried to hide Tutsis in sports stadiums and other easily defendable areas.
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| dead Tutsis |
Dallaire said that the UN called for the withdrawal of troops because the nations decided there was nothing to gain by fighting in Rwanda. There was no profit that could be found. That is why they didn’t come. Dallaire also said that the nations even refused to name the fighting between the Hutus and the Tutsis a genocide. They called it “tribal conflicts”. In 1948, the nations agreed to not let any genocide go uncared for. “Never again,” was the term they used to describe future genocides. Who would have known that nearly 50 years later, when the people in Rwanda most needed help, few nations came eagerly to help? Dallaire said that the nations of the world who did not send troops or ended up withdrawing their troops were selfish. He said that they did not understand the magnitude of the mission. Dallaire even mentioned that recent affairs in Somalia created doubt as to whether Rwanda should be an international affair. It was only the small remaining force of peacekeepers and Dallaire himself that saw the entire genocide before their eyes.
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| Dallaire's book |
After the genocide was over, around 800,000 Tutsis lay dead on the roads, in the bushes, in churches, and in the schoolhouses. Dallaire witnessed this and at first, blamed himself for failing his assigned mission. He felt that he had let down the Tutsis even though he had in fact saved possibly thousands of Rwandans with his depleted resources. After the genocide ended, Dallaire fell into a depression. This was his low point in life. He failed to find solace in his victories in Rwanda. All he saw was his failure to secure Tutsi lives, and him being the failed commander of the mission. He truly believed that it was the limit of his skills that led to so many Tutsi deaths. Years later, Dallaire was found in Ottawa, Canada on a park bench, drunk and passed out. He had been taking pills for his depression and so the mixture of alcohol was serious and almost put him in a coma. Dallaire even went as far as suicide in the year 2000.
Eventually he found that writing about his experiences in Rwanda stopped the depression. However, writing about it was not an easy task. Dallaire said, “You can’t write it unless you relive it,” and relive it he did.
After reliving his past, Dallaire published his book Shake Hands With the Devil–The Failure of Humanity in Rwanda. The book describes the genocide and how the world did not choose to stop it.
Ever since then, Dallaire has found that a lot of the fault also came from not him but other countries and the UN. When describing the United States’ fault, Dallaire says, “I blame the American leadership, which includes the Pentagon, in projecting itself as the world policeman one day and a recluse the next.” Dallaire felt that the U.S. showed itself as a “policeman” but in reality it was just a show. He believed the U.S. was selfish.
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| Dallaire revisiting the horror in Rwanda |
Dallaire was especially angry at President Bill Clinton. Clinton came to Rwanda to witness the effects of the genocide in 1998. His response was that he was sorry that he did not know. Dallaire was infuriated by this remark.
