Just finished reading Romeo Dallaires book. Where to begin? (Rwanda)

Great Debates
1

So I just finished Romeo Dallaires book “Shaking Hands with the Devil” because I’d heard it’s the best first hand account of what the hell happened over there (strategically) that is available. I’ve always wanted to know more about that incident because I was still in high school at the time and only have vague memories of hearing about Rwanda on TV. I’m American (military officer) by the way for those that want my point of view.

I guess I just have questions about the accuracy of the book. I believe it’s accurate but it all seems so f’d up that I want to make sure parts of it haven’t been debunked/refuted in the decade since this book was written. Keep in mind that alot of my questions are clouded by the fact that I was young when this happened and don’t remember much about it.

  1. My first question is regarding the selection of Dallaire as the Force Commander for the mission. He seems like a likable, intelligent, dedicated guy in his book, but he had ZERO operational experience and, based on his own descriptions, his career consisted of non-stop exercising and training. What part of his skillset lead folks to believe he was the guy for the job to begin with? Or was it just supposed to be a show? What was the world opinion of his leadership after the fact?

  2. So the UN decides to authorize a Chapter 6 mission in Rwanda but doesn’t give Dallaire any money or equipment to execute his mission. I don’t understand the reluctance of First World countries to at least provide materiel and equipment for the ragtag force on the ground. What was the US rationale for not providing logistical support? I can understand the politics of not putting troops on the ground (not that I agree with that decision) but helping the ones that are already there seems like an easy decision. Why didn’t we jam the RTLM radio station at least? Seems so easy in hindsight.

  3. France. Seriously. They seemed to be the worst offenders pretty much throughout the book. They appeared to “back” the genocidaires (sp?) for some reason I never figured out. Why was France so hell bent on keeping the RGF functioning and preventing the RPF from “winning”? If everything that Dallaire says is true I can’t believe France can still show their face anywhere near a humanitarian mission again.

  4. Once the mass exodus of refugees into Zaire happened was the entire world really focused on Goma to the detriment of the Rwanda itself? What was the world view of the situation in Goma at the time? Why did the humanitarian effort take its eye off Rwanda directly? If the aid effort had focused on Rwanda directly wouldnt that have (hopefully) lured the refugees back to their own country instead of entrenching them in Zaire?

  5. Couple of morbid questions but I need to ask them. What happened with all the bodies? From the sounds of it the rivers and streams were so over loaded with dead bodies that bridges were collapsing. Didn’t these rivers empty into lakes and or the sea? Somewhere in the Congo maybe? Was the water completely putrid for years from the remains?

  6. It sounded like the Bangladeshi forces that Dallaire had were completely inept and routinely disobeyed his orders at all signs of danger. Does the FC of a UN mission not have total authority over the troops under his command? He seemed completely disgusted with them.

  7. Dallaire truly has the patience of a saint with him being able to continually meet with the leaders of those groups through the slaughter and keep his composure.

  8. I’ve read that there have been claims of “double genocide” meaning that, even though most records clearly show the Hutus slaughtering the Tutsis some sources claim that the Tutsis were also trying to wipe out the Hutus. Any credence to this claim?

  9. Even after reading this book, which is very detailed, I don’t know that any amount of military intervention would truly stop this from happening. It seems that it would only have delayed the inevitable. In fact, from what I’ve read since, it sound like it wouldn’t take much for this to happen all over again, in Rwanda of all places. Thoughts?

When responding to my post please keep in mind my limited background on this. I JUST finished this book and it’s my primary source of strategic information. I probably don’t know much about what’s happened there in the last 20 yrs so don’t hammer me there.