Bangladeshis

• The Tutsi were targeted primarily due to long-standing ethnic tensions between the Tutsi minority and the majority Hutu population.
• As the mass killings were happening, the international community stood by in a stupor, even though the nations of the world had a legal and moral obligation to intervene in cases of genocide.
• To its credit, the United Nations had already put in place a peacekeeping mission, the United Nations Assistance Mission for Rwanda (Unamir).
• In my view this was possible but would have required three main things: detailed intelligence, preventive measures and political will.

Detailed intelligence

• Unfortunately, the UN mission felt deaf and blind in the field as it did not have the analytical capacity to synthesise these important pieces of evidence.
• It was also prevented by UN headquarters from taking measures to secure more information and taking steps for prevention.

Preventive action

• Had the UN taken deterrent actions early on, it might have been able to stop the genocide at the outset.
• Later, a large deployment of troops would have been needed to bring a halt to the many senseless killings.
• UN preventive actions should have dealt with people (both plotters and resisters), the genocide structures (networks) and the tools (weapons) of the genocide.
• In response to illicit weapons flowing into Kigali, the peacekeeping force should have firmly applied the embargo.
• Quick, decisive action by the UN might have isolated the genocide to the Kigali sector before it spread into the countryside.

Political will

• The simple answer is a lack of political will.
• The lack of US commitment was largely the result of a disastrous mission in Somalia the previous year.
• Still, these peacekeepers managed to save 20,000 to 30,000 lives, showing what dedicated action from a small force can achieve.

Moving forward

• Primarily it is a matter of fostering a sense of enlightened self-interest among all nations, linking human welfare around the globe with one’s own.
• It means recognising that when crimes against one section of humanity are committed, no matter where, it is a crime against all of humanity.
• If this isn’t enough, then the fear of inaction should also be a motivating force.

Walter Dorn receives a salary and funding from the Department of National Defence.