How a UN chief was broken by horror of Rwanda

[dArKeR]

General Romeo Dallaire is a haunted man. After 100 days in hell, including a meeting with "the devil", he has been reduced to a suicidal, pill-popping civilian. The last time he was a witness in court in the small safari town of Arusha he was in uniform and in tears.

This time he has found his composure in a pinstriped suit, behind bulletproof glass and guarded by Canadian commandos. The three-star general's appearance before the United Nations criminal tribunal in Arusha has been a long time in the making.

It was 10 years ago that Dallaire last met the most senior of the four officers in the dock -- a short stocky man in dark glasses. Then, says Dallaire, Theoneste Bagosora -- allegedly the chief architect of the Rwandan genocide -- promised to kill him the next time he saw him.

http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?ao=31205

[UpInArms]

1. Rwanda is one of the our world's greatest tragedies

"At first, I saw what seemed to be sacks of potatoes to the right of the morgue door. It slowly resolved in my vision into a heap of mangled and bloodied white flesh in tattered Belgian para-commando uniforms," he wrote.

"Commanders spend their careers preparing for the moment when they will have to choose between lose-lose propositions in the use of their troops," he observes.

"Regardless of the decision they make, some of their men will die. My decision took sons from their parents, husbands from their wives, fathers from their children. I knew the cost of my decision."

[bicentennial_baby]

2. If you want to know more about Dallaire

Read "A Problem From Hell: American and the Age of Genocide" by Samantha Power. There's a ton of info about him and his struggle in her chapters on Rwanda. Powerful stuff, one of the best books I've read in years.

[Lisa]

3. I saw him speak recently ...

I have to admit that I found it difficult to look him in the eye, knowing that I had supported sending him and the other UN peacekeepers to do an impossible job, given how little they had in the way of resources.