English Vid - Analysis and explanation of a video PDF

Preview

Summary

Analysis and explanation of a video...

Description

Is the UN Shaking Hands with the Devil? An Analysis of Romeo Dallaire’s Memoir Elige Halabi, Veronica-Jade Hamilton-Ross, Jessica Iacono, & Chrisitian Trejo

Professor Dimitrios Ohandjanian 603-HSE-VA Section 07 March 25 2019 The United Nation’s involvement in Rwanda had a crucial role in the outcome of the events. They helped tremendously in this situation, as they have everywhere since their founding.

In the wake of the Second World War, the United Nations (UN) was formed to establish peace and to promise freedoms and rights to every person and to every nation. Its intent was to prevent mass genocide, crimes against humanity, war, child labour, enslavement, and other heinous acts from ever occurring again. Ever since its beginnings, the UN has been the reference point for acts of global peace and for development in impoverished areas globally. They are aided by their peacekeepers, whose sole purpose is to intervene in times of inhumane bloodshed and resolve issues democratically rather than violently. Their main goal is peace and they will never compromise human lives no matter what circumstances are presented to them. Such was the case in Rwanda. When General Romeo Dallaire and other peacekeepers arrived, Rwanda was in the midst of a terrible civil war between a rebel force of political refugees, who had fled to Uganda after independence, and the government. The president of Uganda, who was housing the Rwandan political and war-time refugees, had requested that the UN send in a force to monitor the border and ensure that weapons or soldiers were not entering Rwanda for the safety of both countries. Therefore, much like other UN missions, this was to be a bystander operation and was known as the United Nations Observer Mission in Uganda and Rwanda (UNOMUR), a simple peace keeping ordeal. The preparation for this mission involved Lieutenant General Romeo Dallaire and three other individuals. Very little time, effort, or funds were devoted to the preparation from the UN, since the mission was meant to be brief and unassuming. The only information the four could uncover about the history and source of the hostilities in Rwanda was that they had begun in the early 1920s between the minority group, the Tutsis, and the majority group, the Hutus. Rwandan independence from Belgium was achieved after an uprising that either slaughtered or drove out the minority and Belgian-aligned Tutsi elite and a Hutu government took over. Naturally, the Tutsis hatred for the Hutus grew and in 1991, they became a force to be reckoned with as they began to force their way towards the capital leaving bloodshed behind them. Had the benevolent and peacekeeping departments of the United Nations known how intense this hatred was, maybe Rwanda would have had a different fate. Nearly 10 years after his return to Canada, Lieutenant General Romeo Dallaire wrote his memoir of the events called Shake Hands with the Devil: The Failure of Humanity in Rwanda. In this memoir, he essentially disproves the kindness of the United Nations and says its all a front. Therefore, the United Nations are not benevolent at all and are uninterested in the happenings of a nation with little money producing resources despite the hundreds of thousands of impoverished humans living there. Ready to leave for his mission, General Dallaire was forced to wait because documents weren’t signed and had they landed without signatures, they would have been fined heavily, which simply would not satisfy the United Nation’s pockets, sorry, their needs. Timely meetings were also required and paperwork had to be looked over, but neither occurred since the culture of the UN was that of jealously guarding information that could save the lives of thousands since any information could be exchanged for profit somewhere along the line. Impatiently waiting, the General visited Ottawa for an update only to be told that after several months that there was no update and that the Great Lakes region of Central Africa was not a priority. Long after the deadline had passed, the documents were signed and were discovered to be improper in terms of

guidelines and had no real resolution in sight. Consequently, Dallaire and his entourage were required in Rwanda with a plan within the month. The map they used to create this plan was a tourist map since the generous United Nations did not provide them with any useful information. The UN also required him to design the mission based on what they had and not what was needed to satisfy the demands in Rwanda, which was clearly an insufficient amount. This was only the very beginning of the horrors that were to come. Once in Rwanda, UN help for the situation began and ended with the deployment of General Dallaire. His calls for help, guidance, and substantial personnel were consistently ignored, pushed aside, or outrightly refused. The compassionate United Nations would not devote anything more that what they thought was necessary into this mission, which again was far less than what was required. The global symbol for peace and development refused to supply them with papers and pencils, a minimal requirement for communicating written reports with their headquarters. The conditions for the troops were unbearable as well: little food, little water, and no defined building to base themselves in, all courtesy of the United Nations. No legal advisor, no one to support General Dallaire in political proceedings, no one to help the abandoned nation who was struggling in every way a nation could struggle. This was all with the blessing of the United Nations. Thanks to the goodwill and graciousness of the United Nations and all their help in Rwanda, 800 000 people died in a genocide that could have been avoided. It could have been avoided if meetings and deadlines were respected. It could have been avoided had proper materials been provided. It could have been avoided had more troops been readily available and better supplied. If more knowledge and proper coverage of information was spread globally, maybe the UN would have been called out for not doing what is morally correct, which is what they stand for, isn’t it? The Rwandan Genocide could have been avoided had the UN actually cared about the innocent people living in Rwanda and not about the minimal return on their “investment”or how much money it would cost them. The United Nations was willing to compromise the lives of thousands for the pockets of few. Oh, and as a side note, Canada’s Major General Lewis MacKenzie, leader of the peacekeeping operation in Sarajevo, had criticized the UN for its negative attitude, lack of response to immediate needs, and unavailability when urgent decisions were needed. He complained about the exact same thing that was written in General Dallaire’s memoir. The only difference was that it happened before the Rwandan Genocide. Essentially, the United Nations is not as great as we all think it to be. It is a mess of paperwork and processes designed to stall any situation that does not have a direct positive impact on their bottom line. So next time you mention the UN, consider their pockets, and how they’re affected, because that’s all they seem to care about....