Morgan Liu Mrs.
Martin CHC 2DE September 26, 2011 Shake Hands with the Devil In 1994, Gen. Romeo Dallaire led a doomed peacekeeping mission in Rwanda; consequently, he witnessed the slaughter of almost a million people. His guilt and the things he had seen sent him down a mental health spiral that still plagues him today. By the end of the genocide, Dallaires handwriting had deteriorated, he began to self-harm, and he suffered from depression and post-traumatic stress disorder. When Dallaire arrived back in Canada from Rwanda, he developed a drinking problem; he raged at his family, and he tried to kill himself. In 2000, he was found passed out drunk on a park bench in Montreal. Photographer Stephane Beaudoin, alerted by a police report, said I felt sad for him. I thought, This man has done so much for us. How did he come to be here? Even today, Dallaire continues to take pills and attend therapy sessions to calm his ghosts. Romeo Dallaires personal struggle shows just how terrible the genocide truly was; the victims of the genocide werent only the Rwandans, but also the man who chose to bear witness to the slaughter. At the time Rwanda needed them most, the easily distinguishable blue helmets of the United Nations peacekeeping forces were scarce, almost absent in the country. Though it was not the actions of the UN that started the massive genocide and civil war, it was their inactions that allowed the killings to continue. In the fateful months leading up to the horrific genocide, the UN sent Gen. Romeo Dallaire to Rwanda to help the Tutsi and the Hutu people sign the Arusha Accords and reach a mutual agreement and peace. However, they did not inform him of the unrest or the long festering hatred the Hutus felt towards the Tutsis. Going in without any training or intelligence, Romeo Dallaire had to quickly adapt to the situation with a lack of materials, support, and communication; under the Chapter Six mandate, the UN forces were also not allowed to use force until fired upon. In the first opportunity the UN had to stop the genocide, Dallaire sent them an urgent request to seize the arms caches that the Hutus had hidden. Instead, they told him to inform President Habyarimana, one of the conspirators, of his discovery. Soon after the genocide began, the UN abandoned the people of Rwanda. It was only Dallaires determination and refusal to leave, that the UN Security Council voted to pull all but 250 soldiers out of Rwanda. Though they did protect some Tutsis, such as the ones gathered in the Amahoro stadium, the UNAMIR mission was a failure to the people of Rwanda, and the lost opportunities would haunt Dallaire forever. The lack of political will in Rwanda in 1994 was due to a number of factors, including racism, the belief that there was nothing to gain there, and the mistakes made in Somalia before. The lack of political will allowed and encouraged the Aqza and the Interhamwe commit genocide. The United States chose not to stop the Hutu hate radio transmissions, as the cost would be too high. Belgium colonized the country, and then abandoned Rwanda during its time of need after ten Belgian soldiers were killed. During the genocide, Romeo Dallaire spoke to the media, and tried to shame people of the world into helping. He spoke candidly to the media, unusual for a commander. The disinterested nations of the world were apathetic, and allowed the genocide to continue; the mostly disinterested media ignored the genocide, calling it a few tribal killings; the disinterested people of the world turned off their televisions. The lack of political will was responsible for allowing almost a million people to die, and genocides will continue to happen without the political will and institutional mechanisms to stop it.
