why did the UN abandon them?

Like yourself, I find it hard to understand how an organisation such as th UN could withdraw troops from a country in a time of desperate need. I havent seen this film yet but I have read a lot about the history of Rwanda and the politics behind Rwanda during the genocide.

As far as abandoning the victims of the genicide is concerned I don't think the UN are fully to blame, partly because to blame the UN would be to blame every nation in the world, even those who did contribute troops. One reason for the eventual withdrawel of UN troops in Rwanda was the fact that major countries like the US, Britain and France (and all nations, apart from the several contributors) offered no man power to the UNAMIR mission in Rwanda. With no troops to commit the UN had little option but to withdraw. Without the military back up of these countries the UN could have faced mjor casualties if it continued its presence there. However the UN may have left they're appeal for help too late that it wouldn't have really mattered anyway.

The US, during Clintons term, couldn't justify committing more troops to Africa after the Somalian disaster (documented in Black Hawk Down). Britain offered a few aged trucks that were dumped in Kenya and were looted before they could have been transported to Rwanda. France on the other hand did offer troops, however they were acting on their own agenda and did not participate in the UN mission. Belgium on the other hand, a former colonial power in Rwanda offered a number of troops, 15 of which were murdered by the militia.

We are right to critisise the UN for its cowardice in Rwanda, but it can only really be held accountable for the conduct of the UN security council during the genocide. The UN should be blamed for not sanctioning a full mandate that would have allowed its soldiers in Rwanda to have used all force neccessary to protect the victims of the Genocide, this inaction led to hundred of soldiers having to stand around and watch the murder of the very people they were there to protect.

Leiutenant-General Romeo Dallaire (the commander of UN forces in Rwanda during the genocide) wrote his account of the Genocide in a book called "Shake Hands with the Devil" and I'd recommend it if you have an interest in this area. I found it quite unbiassed concidering he was the most senior UN soldier in Rwanda.

I was only around ten when it happened too so like yourself I find it hard to understand why nobody did anything and I'd love to know how much it was really publised in the media back then. If nyone else has any more light to shed on it I'd like to hear form them.

[deleted]

Dear lauramay1984

Sorry to break it to you honey, but at terrible as Rwanda was (and it WAS bloody awful) it is still happening around the world today - and more importantly, being allowed to happen. Have you heard of a place called Darfour? I have included a snippet from a website below regarding the crisis that happened when you were in your 20's. Emails, sat. phones, mobiles, sat. images were all available during this 'genocide' but again, save for maybe a couple of news reports and column inches, not much has been done to stop it. Sadly, until people like us demand that our media stop telling us about how much weight this celeb. has lost, or that this actor and this director hate each other etc. (and I am not just talking celeb. mags/shows here - this type of story can be found everywhere in the media) and demand that our media speak for us and pressure our Governments, UN etc. to get off their self-serving backsides etc. and help - it always will.

Personally I don't care whether the camera work on this film is brilliant or not, or that some of the acting is not top notch - this is irrelevant. What matters is that it is bringing a story to people such as youself that were too young to remember it, and affording you the opportunity to go and learn about the events in your own time . For people like me, the film acts as a reminder, and should cause any decent human being to feel deeply ashamed that once again we are continuing to stand back and allow it to happen all over again with Darfour and others.

Here endeth the sermon folks - sorry I got all political on you. But if you have felt moved after reading this post/watching/reading about this film, take a moment to look on the web at the all the Rwanda-type events that are happening, right now!! . Mandy x

Here is the link below (By the way I have nothing to do with either this film or this website- I am just somebody that is fed up with the fact that despite all the promises that we humans make, that we will never allow anything like the extermination of peoples during WW2 to happen again. We have allowed it to go unchecked time after time after time after time)

'The worst humanitarian crisis in the world today.
Human Rights Watch maintains that Darfur is carrying out a campaign of “ethnic cleansing” promoted by the government of Sudan against three communities located in the Darfur area.
The armed militias(Janjawid) supported by the Sudanese government armed forces have been responsible for massive human rights against the civilian population in Darfur.
This persecution has left some two million people, or a third of the population, in a situation of grave danger, according to the European Humanitarian Aid Office.
A more sombre outlook came from the administrator of the U.S. Agency of International Development(USAID), A. Natsios : "Even in a best case scenario, under optimal conditions, we could see as many as 320 000 people die. Without optimal conditions, the numbers will be far".
The Sudanese government has so far failed to take concrete and prompt measures to stop the horrendous cycle of killings and rape committed by the Janjawid militias against the civilian population of Darfur.'

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.dignitycmf.org/images/darfour.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.dignitycmf.org/frames/darfourgb.htm&h=196&w=280&sz=33&tbnid=zGocegLRCsDbAM:&tbnh=76&tbnw=109&hl=en&start=7&prev=/images%3Fq%3DDarfour%26svnum%3D10%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26safe%3Doff%26client%3Dsafari%26rls%3Den-us%26sa%3DN

thoughts:

this is one of the most heart and eye opening movies ive ever seen.

the director(white guy) is quoted as saying he felt portraying the story through muzungo/white guy actors was the only honest way he could direct the film, as he, like the mostly western audience, could only really ever appreciate it from that angle.

what i remember of the media of the time and the little i've read, things were more complex than a simple hutu on tutsi murder.

perhaps the film is very honest about the sides it takes, and is more effective because of this

was the fire bombing of Dresden during world war two, any less of a 'genocide' than the Rwandan war?

seems likely the UN/global politics at the time were also more complex, but the movie tells a powerful story of what foreign troops actually achieve in a foriegn country.

[deleted]

A large amount of blame for the genocide must be laid squarely at the feet of Kofi Annan. He ignored information given him directly of the plans among Hutu reactionaries of the intent to murder as many Tutsi as possible. This genocide was planned, and a Captain Dallaire, the commander of the UN peacekeeping forces in that part of Africa, knew of the impending genocide and warned Annan repeatedly. Anna deliberately ignored these warnings for three months. Then Dallaire sent a fax, now known as the Dallaire fax, telling Annan that he needed to bring more troops in to control what was about to happen. Anna claimed, for years, that he never received that fax. It was only about two years ago that he finally confessed to having received the fax and deliberately ignored it. He made this confession with the usual disclaimers still trying to absolve himself from it, but there you have it. As usual, people want to lay this off on the U.S. But there was no way that we could have stopped the genocide for reasons discussed elsewhere in this thread. Annan was probably the single person who could have made a difference and he chose not to.

World War II was different in many ways. In WWII, we were directly involved. However, Rwanda as different. Cold as it may seem, Rwanda was nothing to the West. As a poor, landlocked country with no resources and no strategic importance to the West, leaders like Clinton felt intervention was unnecessary. Also, after the Somali fiasco, I think Clinton was weary of a repeat of that incident, and worried about how such a thing would effect the reputation of his administration; i.e., he was more interested in saving face than saving lives. A character in Hotel Rwanda says, "You're not even n*****s. You're Africans." Sad as it seems in this day and age, many people still harbor backward views, and see Africans as less than human. It's prevailing attitudes like these that allow incidents like Rwanda and Darfur to happen. Until repugnant views like these can be overcome, I'm afraid the West will continue to sit back while things like this happen again. I was only a kid when it happened, so I don't remember Rwanda well, but I must say, movies like H.R. moved me literally to tears. All we can do is pray this will never happen again, and learn to love and respect our fellow man.

Let me put it simple: The World Doesn't give a *beep* about third world countries!