“Ghosts of Rwanda” Information
In 1994, a massive occurrence of genocide occurred in Rwanda.
-General Romeo Dallaire, who was head of UN peacekeeping in Rwanda, considers his UN-led effort to prevent the genocide, due to his loss of men and the loss of 800,000 Tutsi lives
-In Rwanda, the Hutus, an ethnic majority, perpetrated genocide against the Tutsis, an ethnic minority, who were victims
-When Rwanda gained independence in the early 1960s, the Hutus took control, and wanted revenge against the Tutsis, who were favored in the Belgian colony
-Dallaire had never been to Africa before, and he was ill-prepared to keep a fragile peace
-There were Tutsi rebels who were rebelling against the Hutus illegal seizure of power
-In January 1994, Dallaire gets info the the Interrehamway (an army of extremist Hutus who wanted to kill moderate members of their own group; UN peacekeepers (mainly Belgian), and then Tutsis) were planning genocide, and he informs the UN
-Kofi Annan, head of UN peacekeeping, was skeptical of Dallaire's intelligence, and had him inform the Hutu-controlled government of this information, and also told Dallaire to take no action. Annan thought he would be a good deterrent, and did not want Dallaire to raid arms cashes or do anything else that would lead to fighting.
-There was reluctance to get involved with ethnic fighting in Africa after incidents in Somalia, which people criticized President Clinton's handling of
-Carl Wilkens, an American Christian missionary, was the only American who stayed in Rwanda during the genocide
-On April 6, 1994, the Hutu president's plane was shot down. Nobody knows who is responsible. The leading Hutu extremist, Col. Bagasora, took total control
-Mme. Agathe, a Hutu moderate, became acting Prime Minister
-Fighting began April 7, 1994. Mme. Agathe was killed.
-The UN troops were being beaten
-After the fighting began, the US issued an evacuation order for all 257 Americans in Rwanda at the time
-Laura Lane, the ambassador to Rwanda from the US, wanted to keep the embassy there open as a refuge to Rwandans, but all embassies were evacuated and closed
-Rescue missions began
-What was going on was obviously different than a coup, because people were targeted just for being Tutsis or moderate Hutus
-French and Belgian paratroopers came not under UN guidance to evacuate expatriates
-The Interhamway waited on curbsides with machetes
-The Tutsis thought the French and Beligan troops were there to help them, but the troops refused to help them. All UN troops were barred from helping Rwandans. "They were there to help white people, not Rwandans."
-Some convoys picked up Rwandans while they were there, but soon almost all westerners left
-Carl Wilkens was the only American left in Rwanda by April 10th
-The Clinton Administration was relieved all Americans were out. 10 Belgian lives were lost, and there was pressure on Belgium on withdrawing all peacekeepers, and asked other nations to do the same. Sec. of State Warren Christopher pressured US ambassador to the UN Madeline Albright to push for the withdrawal of all peacekeeping troops to the UN.
-There was no argument in the US government about withdrawing troops from Rwanda
-All countries but Ghana withdrew from Rwanda
-While the withdrawl was going on, the genocide was spreading to all parts of the countries
-Tutsis sought refuge in churches, but that refuge was often broken
-Jean Kabanda, a leader of the genocide
-The UN withdrew most troops, leaving only a token force made of 450 ill-equipped troops from developing nations in Rwanda
-Hotel Mille Collines: Capitan Mabye Djang brought Tutsi refugees to this hotel, and the manager of the hotel smuggled them to Burundi, the country to the south
-Gen. Dallaire designed a plan to save tens of thousands of lives: using football stadiums as safe havens and having some more UN troops to protect them (not that many more), but the UN Security Council was skeptical, and no European nations seemed willing to send troops
-Tutsi rebels (RPF) did not want UN protection, because they thought the Hutus would never give up power. This was "crucial", so Dallaire was given no more troops
-Dallaire worked tirelessly to protect people in any way he could- but it was often unsuccessful
-Most governments avoided using the word "genocide" to avoid responsibility-
-Late in the game, the Security Council offered 5,000 more troops-but they were not available immediately-but no countries were volunteering troops to the UN
-US would only intervene if it was in the US interest-policy of Pres. Bill Clinton
-Unarmed people were able to save lives
-By the end of May, Tutsis were rare enough that "there were not enough Tutsis to kill"
-Captain Mbaye Djang was killed, and did not even have a body bag for his funeral
More Ghosts of Rwanda Information
The Rwandan genocide lasted 100 days, ending in July 1994. The Tutsi-led RPF won the Rwandan Civil War, which ended the genocide.
"What tragedy. It must never be repeated."- Kofi Annan: However, when Gen. Dallaire told Kofi Annan about intelligence which strongly suggested a planned genocide, he ignored it.
President Clinton said that people did not know the facts. However, it was a major news story while it was going on. Clinton said he could have saved around 500,000 people. He said, "I should've stopped that Rwanda thing."
Politicians/major global leaders were not destroyed (they didn't seem that upset) by their lack of action, but Dallaire became depressed, suicidal, and alcoholic due to the pain he felt. He said trying his best wasn't enough.
