PBS Frontline, Ghosts of Rwanda, film, home page | Introduction | Analysis | Interviews | Timeline | Today | CNN: Rwanda to let UN troops remain (1995) UNICEF, Ten years after (focussed on child victims) BBC: Actor John Hurt defends film on Rwandan genocide, March 2006. Al Zawaj, "Islam Blooms in Rwanda Genocide's wake" (reprinted from Chicago Tribune, 2002) Peace Pledge Union, UK, pages on Rwanda before, during and after the genocide; (blames Belgian and German influences for destabilizing Rwanda by playing Tutsis and Hutus off each other).
Genocide is defined as the deliberate and systematic destruction of
a racial, political, or cultural group. It does not only mean mass murder,
it can also entail keeping such people from food, water, shelter, and other
basic necessities for survival. In 1994, a genocide of the people of the
African country Rwanda occurred. When the United States was first asked
to get involved, the country declined, for a number of reasons. The primary
reason was conflict of national interests. The peacekeeping force of the
United Nations was in Rwanda, trying to help and save their own reputation.
The United States supported the U.N. wholeheartedly.
It began April 6th, 1994, when the Rwandan President’s plane
is mysteriously shot down. The Hutu rebels seize control of the Rwandan
Government.
April 7th-
Now in a war between the Hutus and the Tutsis, Hutus begin to kill
Tutsis and even moderate Hutus. A assistant to a U.N. ambassador tells
the U.S. that a genocide is taking place. General Romeo Dallaire, a Canadian
who had never presided over combat, was head of the U.N. peacekeeping force.
He writes to Kofi Annan, head of the U.N. Annan tells Dallaire there will
be no intervention. The U.S. decided to evacuate its citizens. The death
toll on the first day is estimated at 8,000.
April 9th, 10th, and 11th-
General Dallaire knows that his troops are out numbered. He sends a
request to the U.N. asking for more troops to be sent into his force. Corpses
are piling tall in the streets of Rwanda. There have been attacks on Tutsi
leaders and ordinary Tutsis alike. America, France, and Belgium send in
troops to evacuate 3,300 of their citizens. The estimated death toll rises
to 32,000.
April 15th-
Belgian Soldiers are now the victims. After the murders of ten Belgian
soldiers, Belgium removes of its troops in Rwanda. Belgium asks for the
support of the United States, and wants them to pull out completely also.
Madeleine Albright opposes this, she instead settles on a compromise: a
drastic cutback of U.S. forces, with a set force still there. Death Toll:
64,000
April 16th-
People are hiding in churches to seek refuge for the murders and grotesque
horror taking place on the streets of thir town. The New York Times
does a report on some of the lives lost, and the brutality. The death
toll is estimated at 72,000.
April 19th-
The death toll is approximately 100,000 deaths. Human Rights Watch
demands that the U.N. Security Council deems this tragedy a genocide. The
term is not used. The U.N. peacekeeping force is numbered at 2,100 soldiers.
April 21st and 22nd-
Days 14 and 15 of the genocide. The United States and the Unites Nations
Security Council meet and vote to remove 90% of the peacekeepers in Rwanda.
This is the most attention during the entire genocide that the U.S. has
a high level of attention. The U.S. urges Rwandan military leaders to stop
the violence and tragedy. The death toll is estimated at 112,000 people.
April 25th-
The number of U.N. peacekeeping troops has dwindled to 450 forces from
developing countries. Dallaire is terrified, seeing the murders and fear,
and knowing that he is outnumbered. He puts 25,000 Rwandans under U.N.
guard. He is still hoping that the U.N. will reconsider and send more troops.
April 27th-
On day 20 of the genocide, the deaths are numbered at 160,000. Pope
John Paul II directs his attention to Rwanda, using the word genocide for
the first time. Czechoslovakia and Argentina introduce a resolution to
the U.N. security council that uses the word genocide.
May 1st-
It is day 25 of the genocide, killings are up to 200,000. People are
scared to use the word genocide- it was said that the use of that term
would commit the U.S. to actually do something.
May 3rd-
The United States shows off a doctrine that targets peacekeeping ideals,
limiting U.S. participation in Rwanda because it is not in the national
interest of America. The world is horrified as America seems to turn their
heads away from the tragedy. Death Toll is 216,000.
May 5th-
General Dallaire sends a memo to the pentagon asking to use their technology
to mess up the Hutu extremist’s radio broadcasts. The Pentagon rejects
the proposal, claiming it ineffective and too expensive. On day 29, 232,000
are estimated dead.
May 13th-
Finally attentive to the horror being staged in Rwanda, the U.N. Security
Council seems ready to increase the number of Dallaire’s troops. Dallaire
claims he needs 5,000 more troops to secure Kigali. The proposal is sent
to Albright, who is directed by the U.N. to "modify" it. On May 17th,
day 47, there is a consenus- 5,000 African troops will be sent in and the
U.S. will provide 50 armored personal carriers. The Bureaucracy is paralyzed.
Many African countries do not offer forces for the mission. The U.N. and
the Pentagon argue over the cost of the personal carriers. They will not
arrive until July. The estimated death toll is 328,000.
May 25th-
"The end of the superpower standoff lifted the lid from a cauldron
of long-simmering hatreds. Now the entire global terrain is bloody with
such conflicts, from Rwanda to Georgia. Whether America gets involved depends
on the cumulative weights of the American interests at stake." President
Clinton’s speech seven weeks into the genocide. Death toll is 392,000 on
day 49.
June 22nd-
The genocide has been brewing for over eleven weeks. The U.N. has still
not deployed any help to Dallaire in Rwanda. French Forces intervene, creating
a safe area in territory controlled by the Hutu government. Tutsis continue
to be killed, even in the safe areas. It is day 77, and 616,000 are estimated
dead.
July 17th-
Tutsis have recaptured Kigali. The Hutus flee to Zaire after the overthrow.
The French dismantle, and Ethiopian troops are sent in. The genocide is
over.
It ends after 100 days of genocide, and 800,000 deaths.
-800,000 people killed, mass genocide
-August 1993
-Gen. Romeo Dollaire, UN Peacekeeping Commander
-2,200 Troops under command
-Tutsi (Ethnic Minority, Rebel Group) vs. Hutus (Majority)
-Third group of squadrons of killers
-Secret group of Hutu extremists planning to break peace and exterminate their enemies
-Informant said the extremists were planning to kill Belgian troops in order to cause the UN forces to be deprived of the core Belgian contingent
-Kofi Annan, head of UN Peacekeeping didn’t realize the magnitude of the situation, and told Dollaire not to raid rebel arms caches or make any action which might lead to the UN to have to use force.
-Annan didn’t want another Mogadishu incident where 3 months earlier, 18
Americans were killed in Somalia.
-There was a façade of security and peace in Kigali where the UN Embassy was located
-The Hutu Presidential Plane was shot down by a land missile, unknown by which group made the assassination
-The extremist leader took control, so Dollaire proposed the moderate Prime Minister be placed in power.
-UN HQ ordered Dollaire not to intervene and tightened his regulations, no force to be used
-April 7, the killing going escalates
-7 am, UN Peacekeepers sent to guard Madam Galaf, moderate Prime Minister
-Rwandan troops surrounded the house, then stormed the compound, killed PM,
took 10 Belgian Peacekeepers hostage, released Canadian Peacekeepers
-Tutsi massacred by Hutu extremists, two Belgian Peacekeepers executed
-Tutsi rebels countered the massacres and attacked the extremist Hutu Gov.
-April 9, French and Belgian Troops arrived, not under UN command to get out ex-patriots
-Rwandan troops stopped a Red Cross ambulance and killed 2 patients
-The problems of bureaucracy occur in the US, no troops would be committed, but logistical help offered, and eventually 50 armored personnel carriers sent, but pentagon was not sure who would pay, how to train the un peacekeepers, and other bureaucratic questions
-Eventually the Hutu extremists ran out of Tutsis to kill, so they considered storming the UN Sanctuary where some where being sheltered.
-Foreign troops were present, American, Belgian, French, UN, but no one would commit to using force.
-Church stormed, bodies inside mangled, massacre of people inside
-June 10, Christine Shelly, Secretary of State spokesman still not admitting to the genocide
-George Moose, Assistant Secretary of State to Africa, critical of government not admitting to what was going on
-July 1994, end of genocide, 100 days of murder, Hutu extremists had killed 800,000 Tutsis, did not end until the Tutsi rebels won the civil war
-Anthony Lake, National Security Advisor to Clinton, didn’t think US should have done more until he actually visited Rwanda and saw the bodies, the horror of the bones everywhere
-No one really realized the horror, the mass scale of the genocide, not until it was too late
-Clinton visited, but never said he was sorry, just admitted the US had made so mistakes