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Journey Through Genocide

by Rajani | May 2005

After over a decade since the Rwandan genocide of 1994, we are beginning to see attempts at dealing with its atrocities slowly coming out. One such attempt is the Oscar-nominated "Hotel Rwanda".

"Shake Hands with the Devil", a documentary by Peter Raymont is a more recent attempt, one that is harder to watch and that also goes deeper in terms of political analysis as well as depiction of personal experience.

This documentary, focusing on the experiences of United Nations Lt. General Romeo Dallaire and based on his memoir of the same name, was made during Dallaire's return to Rwanda to testify in front of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. Its juxtaposition of footage from both 1994 as well as 2004 during Dallaire's visit is effective in portraying the scars that a nation and its people carry after undergoing horrific events, events that put into question the basic morality of human beings.

The Hutu-Tutsi tension in Rwanda goes many years back into history. The majority Hutus and the minority Tutsis, however, are very similar ethnically, linguistically and culturally. The difference between the two groups was greatly encouraged by the Belgian colonists who arrived in Rwanda in 1916. It is no secret that it was a common practice of colonists all over the world to use so called "race science" in order to justify their brutality towards the colonized, as well as to divide and rule. This race science, consisting of dubious measures such as the "nasal index", was used in countries all over Africa as well as in India. In Rwanda, the Belgians used it to claim that the Tutsi was a superior race. Thus followed years of domination and discrimination of the majority Hutu group. Identity cards signifying the ethnicity of each individual were also issued. Naturally, resentment accumulated over the years as a result.The tables turned however, first when Hutu resentment broke out into riots in 1959 and second, when the Belgian colonists left in 1962 with the Hutus in power.

Considering the historical role of the Belgians in exacerbating tensions, it was indeed foolish to have them as a UN peacekeeping force in Rwanda. This was only one of the problems with the peacekeeping force, which was generally ill equipped as well as legally impotent in that situation. Rwanda's unhappy colonial history, coupled with circumstances that included a rebel movement started by Tutsi refugees in Uganda, bad economic conditions in the country, and the general discontent towards Hutu president Juvenal Habyarimana, made for a volatile situation. When Habyarimana's plane was shot down, killing him, chaos ensued. What appeared to the world as mob violence was, in fact, a carefully orchestrated event. What else could explain the incessant radio propaganda urging the Hutus to kill Tutsis, the appearance of the well organized and well trained militias known as the Interhamwe, and the convenient presence of more than enough machetes, among others?

Not only was the genocide well organized, the world powers could not have been as unaware about this as was claimed. And this is what Dallaire takes issue with. The documentary presents Dallaire's horror at the loss of humanity in Rwanda, his crippling guilt and questions about what he could have done better to save more lives, and his rage towards the world powers including the US government and the United Nations. It is his realization that this genocide could have been prevented, or at least quelled sooner, that consumes him and that leads to more than one suicide attempt.

The world's lack of concern for the African continent is apparent. Firstly, why was such an ill equipped peacekeeping force sent into such a volatile situation? Secondly, why was the Belgians the major part of the UN force, considering their history in Rwanda? Indeed, the perpetrators of the genocide calculated correctly that the Rwandans could easily be incited to violence against the Belgians because of the colonial past and also, that as soon as some Belgian deaths took place, that they would withdraw, essentially handicapping the UN force. Those questions will haunt the world, and particularly Dallaire, forever.

The latter half of the documentary features footage from the 10th anniversary commemoration of the genocide. Here, we see Bill Clinton apologize to the Rwandans for the world's inaction. The suggestion that the world did not know is, however, insulting. That Dallaire's famous "genocide fax" to Kofi Annan, about an anonymous Rwandan informant who was willing to implicate organizers of the impending genocide, was practically ignored is evidence enough of the world's complicity.

The world has moved on, however. One does not hear outrage about happenings in other places such as Darfur, Sudan, because of what has happened in Rwanda. Reminders, such as Dallaire's book and this documentary, are important despite their questionable efficacy. Images of flies buzzing around a still alive child and of swollen bodies bobbing up and down in water, and the palpable sense of the smell of death all around are powerful and moving.

As for Dallaire himself, not only did he go through the trauma of the genocide when he decided to forgo the opportunity to leave, but he also came back to a world that questioned his credibility when he was vocal about its neglect of Rwanda. One can see the effects of that unimaginable horror on his face as he goes back to the familiar places in Rwanda.

In the foreword to Dallaire's book, Samantha Power compares him to Moshe the Beadle, Elie Wiesel's kaballah teacher in "Night", his memoir of the Holocaust. Moshe the Beadle escapes from the Nazis and comes back to the village to tell of the horrors he has witnessed and to warn the villagers. However, no one believes his story, the details too horrifying to be believable. Sometimes, our faith in the morality of humans is sadly misplaced and General Dallaire is a valuable witness of such a thing.

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