Shake Hands with the Devil - Roméo Dallaire - Part 6 of 10

2020 Reading Challenge - Day 197

July 16, 2020

Book 55 - Shake Hands with the Devil
Roméo Dallaire
 Part 6 - pages 268-326 (e-book)
Reading Time - 90 minutes

We're into the heart of it now... the massacres ramp up and the UN troops are witnesses to unspeakable horror. I've been reading some other news articles and watching some videos and it is incomprehensible. How could this have happened? After the Holocaust? And the Killing Fields. Whatever happened to "never again"...

Chapter 11 - To Go or to Stay

The UN compounds sheltered about 30,000 fearful Rwandans but were not equipped to act as refugee centres. There was no food, no water, few latrines. Some inevitable succumbed to dehydration, disease or hunger. The telephones, electricity and water system went down as well. If they ran out of fuel for the generator, they would be completely cut off, with no way to operate the satellite radio. The compounds had no supplies and no way to medi-evac the wounded.

Dallaire met with the Crisis Committee again who said that the swearing in of the BBTG would happen the next day and would include the extremist political parties. The same extremists who were hunting people down. Dallaire still hoped that he could broker a cease-fire or even a truce so that expats could be extracted, but both sides were dug in.

Some Polish officers from the UN mission drove to a Polish church to get some expats and military observers. The found a scene of unimaginable horror. Hundreds of men, women and children had been massacred in the church. The RGF had rounded up the people, herded them into the church, and then let the militia, armed with machetes, into the church. There was no mercy, no hesitation, no compassion. There were a few wounded survivors who would be cared for by the priests. But, the next day, after the mission had left, the militia came back and killed the rest and burned the bodies.

The massacred was not a spontaneous act but a well-executed operation that involved the army, the militia and other groups.

The French arrived to evacuate their expats and callously pushed aside black Rwandans seeking asylum. "A sense of shame overcame me. The whites, who had made their money in Rwanda and who had hired so many Rwandans to be their servants and labourers, were now abandoning them. Self-interest and self-preservation ruled".

The Belgians arrived to evacuate their troops and in one case, a group of Belgian soldiers were guarding a school where two thousand Rwandans had sought refuge. The Belgian soldiers were ordered to pull back to the airport. The Rwandans in the school were left to their fate.

The peace-keeping department at the UN apparently questioned if protecting civilians was the mandate of the UN peacekeeping troops. But no country wanted to send troops to Rwanda at that point... there were too many risks. The only person who though that the UN should strengthen its mission in Rwanda was the president of the Security Council, New Zealand's Colin Keating. The US wanted the mission pulled out immediately. Only Canada sent two planes and several staff officers.

Dallaire still tried to broker a ceasefire, even as the RPF slowly, calmly, coolly, gained territory. But they would only agree to a ceasefire if the killing ceased... bu the killing wouldn't cease without a ceasefire. The UN argued that if there was no ceasefire, then the mission had to withdraw. Dallaire argued for keeping a force on the ground, if only to bear witness.

Dallaire speaks highly of the Tunisian and Ghanaian troops - all of whom were spectacularly brave and never shirked their duty. He muses on the fact that his own father, a Canadian, fought to liberate Belgium. Decades later, the Belgians abandoned his son (Dallaire).

Ultimately the UN decided to leave a skeleton force, 250 troops, keeping 30,000 Rwandans in safety. "Ultimately, led by the United States, France and the United Kingdom, this world body aided and abetted genocide in Rwanda".

I sit here, and I read that last sentence and I think... how did this happen? How did countries, renowned the world over for being "First World", for being democratic, for being humanitarian... end up abandoning 800,000 Rwandans to their deaths? How can those same countries look in the mirror every morning and consider themselves to be anything other than butchers?