A11 | Shake Hands With the Devil

Shake Hands with the Devil: The Failure of Humanity in Rwanda is a detailed account by former peacekeeping Force Commander of the United Nations Assistance Mission for Rwanda (UNAMIR), Romeo Dallaire, of the atrocities he experienced during the Rwandan genocide and how the world failed at preventing an avoidable atrocity. The book shines a light on the failures of the UN and the countries who were supposed to provide assistance, as well as Dallaire’s own admissions of failure and subsequent internal battles with his role in the circumstance.

Dallaire begins as a well-intentioned, yet naive, soldier who is excited by the opportunity to help a nation, but to also put his training into action when hearing about a mission trip to Rwanda. He is admittedly ignorant to the culture and political climate with what he describes as his “Eurocentric notions of Africa”, but conducts as much research as possible and journey’s there excitedly, “with confidence born of ignorance.” Following his initial trip to Rwanda, he is tasked with designing an extensive mission to help usher in peaceful integration following the signing of the Arusha Accords, a peacekeeping agreement.

Rwanda suffered from ethnic division and conflict, which erupted into a 3-year civil war between factions. The Hutus, who gained power during independence in 1962, were the dark-skinned majority led by President Juvenal Habyarimana. While the Tutsis, who were light-skinned, had more power during the preceding Belgian rule due to their complexion being more comparable to European standards. The two ethnic groups were put against each other continuously and after systematic oppression and separatism by the ruling Hutus, the Tutsis eventually formed the Rwandese Patriotic Front (RPF), represented largely by commander Paul Kagame.

As stated, the purpose of the Arusha Accords was meant to usher in peace and the presence of the UN was to help guide this transition. Dallaire entered Rwanda with a missionary mindset of hope and idealism, but conflict stirred up again not long after his arrival. A third faction of Hutu extremist, called the Interahamwe, were against the integration and were led by their hatred against Tutsis and Hutu moderates to commit a calculated and well-planned genocide. Before this, Dallaire received intel repeatedly from an informant, Jean-Pierre, about the intention of this groups, their methods and their weapons cache, but was instructed by the UN to seize any action against them. After the genocide erupted and soldiers from various countries started to be killed, the countries extracted their agents and Dallaire, who chose to stay, was left with a minuscule infantry of 300-450 men. After only 100 days, 800,000 men, women and children were murdered. Dallaire and his remaining soldiers were able to save thousands of people, even sheltering 12,000 at the UN base at one point, but the consistent trauma eventually led to him developing PTSD and he was medically discharged.

The earliest red flags that Dallaire ignored was his original task orders of drafting a mission proposal, which was not to be designed to address the scope of the problem, but within the parameters of resources instead. The amount of control (or lack thereof) that the UN was affording him was evident from then. Once he arrived in Rwanda, it became evident that he would have to jump through hoops for even essential, basic resources.

He is constantly met with roadblocks and seeks authorization for the majority of moves he makes, which are primarily sent back as denials. His infantry amount, rations, supplies, resources and transport are things he has to fight over and the general stonewalling he encounters makes it evident that the UN presence was not meant to be remedial and hardly even supplementary.

In addition, he received intel and the location of the Interahamwe’s weapons cache and is criticized for not conducting a search and seizure operation, despite being directly commanded to stand down. In retrospect, capturing these weapons could’ve hindered the Interahamwe’s plan, if not stopping it completely. It was a conflict between his duty and morality and he made the wrong choice. Another controversial choice was that Dallaire failed to intervene to save 10 Belgian soldiers due to the high potential increase in casualties with both other army members and the vulnerable UN base.

I believe Dallaire started off with an unintentional white-savior complex with thoughts of flying to Africa and saving that sector of the world. This thought was chipped away at, slowly at first as he realized his allowances were limited and there would be a need to juggle political associations and even proverbial “devils” in order to accomplish a higher goal. He exhibits naivety, but I would even call into question whether or not it’s naive to expect a humanitarian institution to abide by the principles they set? Dallaire struggled with the idea that he couldn’t save everyone, which many would argue was an impossible task given the hurdles he had to get over, but I would also argue that his savior-complex hinders him with a greater sense of responsibility for “saving” those who need help. Those notions were shattered even before the atrocity took place; you can feel Dallaire’s frustration from not being able to save the world.

 This idea of impartiality and neutrality is also covered in the text and Dallaire finds himself as the intermediary between the warring parties. It was crucial to ensure both were equally represented and adhere to the concerns of both in order to create a balanced peace agreement.

We’ve also discussed in class how aid can be politically and/or economically charged. The Rwandan genocide is probably the perfect example because, during the first 3 days after the genocide began, the countries began sending in troops, but only to get their own soldiers out. There were over 2,000 additional soldiers on the group with heavy artillery and Dallaire believes that, with their help, the murders could’ve been stopped within those 3 days. After the troops were withdrawn, 300-450 soldiers remained in battle without UN assistance or resources. The world seemed to have forgotten about Rwanda and Dallaire is adamant that it was because they had no perceived economic benefit to outside countries.

Dallaire naivety towards his circumstance could be seen as a dedication to being a soldier, and abiding by commands is a part of that which is admirable, but when your job wants you to do things that contradict your morality then blind obedience could be detrimental. I think Dallaire realized this but unfortunately it was too late. Reading this book made me disgusted with humanity overall and unfortunately made me more skeptic about whether aid has any true altruistic components. I generally believe that organizations and governments as a whole aren’t but I would hope that on the individual level, people innately want to help other people. I wonder if that makes me naive as well, though.

The Belgian establishment particularly upset me because they basically laid the groundwork for hatred by creating oppressive and divisive tools which caused the conflict between the Hutus and Tutsis. If even for no other reason than atonement, and knowing that they were the most skilled and prepared within the infantry of soldiers, I would’ve hoped for assistance rather than abandonment.

Overall, I was mostly saddened by the book and documentary because it’s an exhibition of failure by the world and that’s shameful. People were bombed and decapitated, with their bodies piling up next to and atop each other as if they were nothing. Children and pregnant women were tortured and killed since no one was exempt and only a couple hundred people decided to stay and fight. I felt sad for Dallaire and his soldiers also having to witness the massacre and being plagued by feelings of powerlessness. Also, reading about Dallaire’s resulting mental health issues and attempted suicides were heartbreaking. You could hear it in the tone of the book and see it in his face during the documentary. He was broken after that, but who wouldn’t be?