Retired General Romeo Dallaire of Canada, former commander of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Rwanda (UNMIR), said Tuesday that the 1994 genocide in Rwanda could have been stopped if the international community had shown their political will.  

In an interview with Xinhua in Kigali, where commemoration events are being organized for the 10th anniversary of the genocide, Dallaire expressed his disappointment with the world leaders over their inaction during those horrible days.

Dallaire, who led the UN peacekeeping force in Rwanda from October 1993 to August 1994, was invited to the International Conference on Genocide and the April 7 public ceremony, also known as National Reflection, at the Kigali National Stadium.

Recalling what happened in the tiny, hilly country 10 years ago, he said that the international community was to blame, more or less, for the loss of so many innocent lives in 100 days from April to July 1994.

In the span of 100 days, more than one million people, mostly Tutsis, were killed by Hutu militia, who erected roadblocks and used machete, hoes, stick and guns to kill all those whose identity cards showed that they were Tutsis. And moderate Hutus who refused to kill had themselves killed.

Dallaire had accused his superiors of denying him permission to act on seizing weapons later used in the mass killing of Tutsis.

Three months before the genocide, he sent a telegram to the UN peacekeeping headquarters, headed by incumbent UN Secretary General Kofi Annan at that time, warning against an imminent massacre of Tutsis, but the warning fell on a deaf ear.

He cabled New York shortly after the then Rwandan President Juvenal Habyarimana's plane crashed near Kigali International Airport, saying, "Give me the means and I can do more." Again, the United Nations did not act immediately.

"The world has so many armed people dressed in uniforms, but it abandoned Rwandans," the retired general said.

Dallaire said that the UN peacekeepers were not enough to stop the genocide that spread as quickly as grassland flames throughout the small landlocked African country.

Before the genocide, the UNMIR had about 2,500 soldiers stationed in Rwanda to monitor the implementation of the peace accord reached by the then Hutu government and the Tutsi-dominated Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) led by Paul Kagame, now president of Rwanda.

However, the force became almost symbolic after Belgium pulled all its troops out of Rwanda after 10 Belgian peacekeepers were humiliated and killed by Hutu soldiers at the beginning of the massacre and further the UN Security Council ordered a reduction of the UNMIR due to deterioration of security situation in Rwanda.

Dallaire said that he had asked for the approval of the United Nations to seize weapons that were secretly distributed to Hutu militia by the then Hutu government but was told that this was outside the mandate of his mission.

He said that he had written what he saw in Rwanda in 1994 and how he feels about this human tragedy and what he wants to say to the world leaders in his book, Shaking Hands With the Devils, which was first published in Canada last October.

Although he and his men did their best to protect civilians from the machetes of brutal Hutu militia, the Canadian general was traumatized by his failure to stop the genocide and retired from the army in 2000, suffering from posttraumatic stress.

Talking about the present situation in Rwanda, Dallaire said that the reconciliation policies by the Kagame government has truly made progress in stabilizing the country and healing wounds left in the 100-day genocide.

With 85 percent of Hutus and 14 percent of Tutsis, Rwanda has witnessed many tribal killings in history, which forced large numbers of Tutsis to flee into neighboring countries, such as Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania and Burundi.

The genocide in 1994 is a profound lesson for both Rwanda and the international community, urging people to think over what should be done to prevent such a tragedy from happening again in Rwanda or other parts of the world, Dallaire said.

(Xinhua News Agency April 7, 2004)