Read Shake Hands With the Devil Online
Authors: Romeo Dallaire
The best account of the actual genocide, one which is also very detailed and very painful to read, is a book by the American human rights activist Alison Des Forges, called
Leave None to Tell the Story: Genocide in Rwanda
(New York: Human Rights Watch, 1999). Alison is an expert on the history of human rights in Rwanda and was one of our greatest allies in 1994 in trying to encourage the international community to intervene in Rwanda and to expose the genocide for what it was. She has testified at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda at Arusha and is considered an expert on all aspects of the genocide.
The most disturbing account on the tragedy of genocide, written from a personal perspective, is Philip Gourevitch's
We Wish to Inform You that Tomorrow We Will Be Killed with Our Families: Stories From Rwanda
(New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1998). Gourevitch was one of the first journalists to enter post-genocide Rwanda and speak directly with survivors. He took that information and produced a work that strikes directly at your soul.
For a picture of post-genocide Rwanda, Shaharyar Khan's
The Shallow Graves of Rwanda
(London: I.B. Tauris Publishers, 2000) is the most complete account of how the international community failed to help the survivors of the genocide. Khan was the
UN
's Secretary-General's Special Representative in the last days of
UNAMIR
. We served a little over a month together, and I found him to be a superbly experienced diplomat, an innovator, a talented leader and a wonderful human being.
The official Canadian Forces history of
UNAMIR
was written by Dr. Jacques Castonguay, a military historian who was principal of the Collège militaire royal de Saint-Jean and was a professor when I attended that institution as a cadet. From the start, I wanted an official history of the mission, the sort the Canadian Army used to produce during military campaigns in the past. Dr. Castonguay travelled to the mission area while the headquarters was still in place and reviewed documents that have since gone missing. His account also reflects Brent Beardsley's and my own thinking about the genocide immediately after it occurred.
Two senior officers have written excellent books on the complex
military command and political interface on the ground during the mission. The first was written by my deputy force commander, Ghanaian Brigadier General Henry Anyidoho, and is called
Guns over Kigali
(Accra: Woeli Publishing Services, 1997). It is the story of the mission from the perspective of an experienced African soldier and peacekeeper. Henry served under me and my successor; he had the opportunity to view Rwanda first-hand both during and after the genocide. His insight on the command of African troops is particularly valuable. He, too, returned to a nation where colleagues were jealous and the government apathetic. The Ghanaian troops of
UNAMIR
never received full recognition from their government, their army or their fellow citizens for the courageous work they performed in Rwanda. The other work I want to mention is
Rwanda: la descente aux enfers: Témoignage d'un peacekeeper Décembre 1993âAvril 1994
(Brussels: Ãditions Labor, 2001) by Colonel Luc Marchal, who served as my Kigali sector commander as well as the Belgian contingent commander. He has written a first-class account of leadership in a peacekeeping mission in crisis, where one is torn by loyalty to country and loyalty to the mission and morality. He had the most difficult command in
UNAMIR
, the Kigali Weapons Secure Area, and his book is an extremely personal reflection on the complexities of this new era of conflict resolution. He performed his duties beyond the call; his actions and his high personal moral standards permitted Belgium to be perceived as behaving with a modicum of dignity as its government abandoned us in the field and then attempted to influence the rest of the world not to help. In response, his home country did nothing less than try to destroy him. There is no better example of the risks of command in operations.
During the genocide, I produced a plan for an emergency international intervention of 5,500 troops to stop the slaughter, a plan that was never adopted. In 1997, this plan was subjected to international military analysis at Georgetown University, where Colonel Scott Feil of the U.S. Army was studying under a fellowship from the Carnegie Commission on Preventing Deadly Conflict. The plan was assessed by high-ranking officers from several nations. Their analysis was published
by Colonel Feil as
Preventing Genocide: How the Early Use of Force Might Have Succeeded in Rwanda
(New York: Carnegie Commission, 1998). In their judgment, the planned intervention would have at best stopped and at least dramatically reduced the casualties of the genocide.
The
OAU
and the United Nations have both conducted full inquiries into the Rwanda genocide of 1994. The
OAU
report is the more detailed and accurate of the two from my perspective. The Brahimi Report on
UN
Peacekeeping Reform, a major study of the
UN
's peacekeeping efforts by a panel of experts led by Ambassador Lakhdar Brahimi, is a solid compendium of the lessons learned from
UNAMIR
and several other
UN
missions over the last decade or so. It outlines the reforms needed at the
UN
in order to meet the complexity of conflict resolution and peacekeeping in this uncertain era.
I am sure I have missed other fine accounts and I apologize to their authors. I urge readers to carefully check library catalogues and book-store shelves for all accounts of what happened in Rwanda in 1994. Most importantly, I encourage young authors, journalists and scholars to continue to study this human tragedy and to contribute to our growing understanding of the genocide. If we do not understand what happened, how will we ever ensure it does not happen again?
The last reading I want to recommend is the seminal report, “We the Peoples: The Role of the United Nations in the 21st Century,” which was given as a speech by the Secretary-General of the
UN
, Kofi Annan. In this report, Annan calls on us to meet the challenges of the new “millennium of humanity” and insists that we will prevail over conflict. After all I have witnessed, I too believe we can prevail.
The page references in this index correspond to the printed edition from which this ebook was created. To find a specific word or phrase from the index, please use the search feature of your ebook reader.
5ième Régiment d'artillerie légère du Canada, 22â3, 34, 36â7, 40, 44
430th Tactical Helicopter Squadron, 42
Adinkra, Lieutenant Colonel Joe, 344â5, 446
African states and
UNAMIR
2, 375
Ahsan, Major, 423â4
airport (Kigali)
battleground, 378â9, 408â9
a battleground, 336
closed, 264, 411
control of, 270â1, 275â6, 284â5, 321, 362
evacuation of, 286â7
and Habyarimana crash, 225, 243, 259
neutrality of, 324
protection of, 161
re-opening of, 485â6
RGF
control of, 310â11
withdrawal from, 384â6
Albright, Madeleine, 374, 505â6
Al-Khussaiby, Salim bin Mohammed, 436
Allard, General Jean Victor, 17, 22, 24
Amahoro (Peace) Stadium.
See also
headquarters of
UNAMIR
cleaning up of, 490
as a shelter, 270, 291, 466, 478
transfers from, 396â7, 419â20
American Rangers, 147
Annabi, Hedi, 51, 86
Annan, Kofi A., 50, 92â3, 520.
See also
triumvirate of
DPKO
Anyidoho, Brigadier General Henry
and ceasefire, 371â2
and civilian transfers, 350
description of, 156, 257â8
and father's death, 463
honoured, 445
and hostage taking, 423â6
as a leader, 205â6, 319, 408
and meeting with Bizimungu, 442â3
and more Ghanaian troops, 411â12
to replace Dallaire, 470â1, 496, 502
APC
(armoured personnel carrier).
See also
equipment
from Belgians, 113
as functional, 181, 204, 243, 331, 383
number needed, 88, 375â6
arms smuggling, 114, 156â7, 201
Arone, Shidane, 207
Arp, Jan, 507
Arusha negotiations, 320â1, 327, 340, 355
Arusha Peace Agreement.
See also
broad-based transitional government
amnesty provision, 137
beginnings of, 43, 48, 51
commitment to, 123
demise of, 212, 214
governance under, 194
joint session with
RPF
and
RGF
, 72â4
outline of, 54â5
Political Code of Ethics, 211
RPF
support of, 66â7, 138
signing of, 53
“Assessment of the Proposed French-led Initiative in the Rwandese Crisis,” 433â4
Atwood, Brian, 398â400
Austdal, Lieutenant Colonel Mike, 362, 503
Australia, 468â9, 491
Ayala Lasso, José, 354, 363
Bagosora, Colonel Théoneste.
See also
Crisis Committee; interim government
an extremist, 293, 324
and Belgian soldiers, 184
and control of genocide, 386
and death of Habyarimana, 222â7
and joint session
RPF
and
RGF
, 72â3
and
KWSA
, 125â6
meeting with, 77, 383, 456
and meeting with Interahamwe, 345â7
Bagotville, Quebec, 28
Baker, Major General Doug “Two Gun,” 35
Balcer, Léon, 17
Ballis, Lieutenant Colonel Walter, 228, 266
Bangladeshi troops
engineers, 175, 217
frustrations with, 157â8, 204â5, 215, 243â4, 269â71, 273, 323â4
impressive, 195
and language, 176, 222, 228, 231â2
for phase three, 407
poorly equipped, 123â4
their quarters, 127
Barahinyura, Jean Shyirambere, 132
Barayagwiza, Jean-Bosco, 132, 184
Baril, General Maurice, 33, 44, 48â50, 354â5
challenges at
UN
, 51â2
direct communication with, 145, 145n1
funding of mission, 56
in Rwanda, 387â93
technical mission to Rwanda, 75
BBC
.
See
Doyle, Mark
Beadengar, Dessande, 171, 381
Beardsley, Major Brent
after Rwanda, xii
choice for
UN
mission, 45
and death of Gatabazi, 187â8
departure of, 340â1
description of, 46
honoured, 445â5n
rescuing nuns, 339â40
saving lives, 157â8, 160
wife and family, 53, 91, 127
witness at International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, xiii
Beatty, Perrin, 38
Beaudry, Major Bob, 28â9
BELBAT
, 113
Belgacem, Commandant Mohammed, 152â3, 302â3
Belgian contingent in Rwanda
accommodations for, 120â1
ambushed, 192â3
arrival of, 106
attitude of, 112â13, 182â7, 215
death of soldiers, 255â6, 258
disciplinary infractions of, 183â5, 193
evacuation force, 286â7
heroes of Rwanda, 239â40
impressive, 195
prisoners, 233, 236â7, 239, 243, 246, 254
target for extremists, 143â4, 161, 228, 240
withdrawal of, 251, 254, 289â90, 293â5, 311â12, 317â18
Belgium
colonial past, 47, 61, 318
evacuation of expatriates, 275
informed of extremist agenda, 148
loss of soldiers, xi
military advisers, 68, 70â1, 223â3n
military advisers to
RGF
, 225
reconnaissance group, 105â6
support for mission, 84, 90, 209, 276
Bennett, Doug, 169
Bernatchez, Major General J.E.P., 17
Bicamumpaka, Jérôme, 288â9, 463
Bizimana, Augustin
absence of, 104, 357
appeal to help, 168â9, 191
in Cameroon, 223, 242, 283
control of Gendarmerie, 70
co-operative, 175
extremist, 293
and informant's information, 148â9
meeting with, 213â14
withdrawal of Belgians, 297
Bizimana, Jean-Damascène, 195
description of, 58
Bizimungu, Major General Augustin
description of, 292â3, 315â16
meeting with, 324, 337â8, 506â7
meeting with Interahamwe, 345â7
meeting with Opération Turquoise, 473
threats to Dallaire, 442â3
Tutsi-hater, 355
Bizimungu, Pasteur
attendance at flag-raising, 104
description of, 65â6
and French prime minister, 495â6
and Gatabazi's funeral, 196
joint session
RPF
and
RGF
, 72
meeting with, 327
new president, 475, 504â5
Blagdon, Brigadier Paddy, 59, 151
Bleim, Manfred, 159â60
blue berets
deliberate targeting of, 41â2
obtaining the hats, 103â4
Bonner, Captain Michel, 36
Booh-Booh, Jacques-Roger
and death of Habyarimana, 227
departure of, 330â1, 420
description of, 98, 114â15
informed of extremist agenda, 148
lifestyle, 118, 175â6, 393
meeting with
PL
factions, 140
meeting with U.S., 211
protection of, 161, 213, 232â3, 265, 283
relationship with Dallaire, 118â19
ultimatum for political impasse, 178
Bosnia, 41, 240
Boutros-Ghali, Boutros, 51, 193, 293
and political impasse in Rwanda, 164
Brahimi Report on
UN
Peacekeeping Reform, 548