Romeo Dallaire Quotes
I felt it absolutely essential that we plant the U.N. flag in Rwanda and plant it in a place of significance to show all the political entities, all the signees of the agreement and the Rwandans... that the international community were here and we're here to stay and we're going to be doing our job.
Dallaire, Roméo. "Interview: Gen. Romeo Dallaire." Frontline: Ghosts of Rwanda, PBS, 1 Apr. 2004.
His view, that America had no vested interest in Rwanda, was the prevailing thinking of the Republicans who controlled Congress and many of the Democrats as well. President Clinton considered intervention in Rwanda, but decided against it given all the opposition and little time to educate the American public to a different position. The result was the genocide in Rwanda where over 500,000 Tutsis were exterminated by the Hutus. Clinton, several years later not only admitted that he made a political and moral mistake, but officially apologized to Rwandan Tutsis who remained alive. He had intervened very successfully in Kosovo to prevent more murder of ethnic Muslims and was given a hard time politically by his opposition even though the brilliant effort cost no American lives. The United States and the UN, all bearing guilt for doing little in Rwanda, did help to set up the mechanism for the trials of the worst murderers and at least many of the most guilty were brought to justice.
Clark, a conservative, was one of those who did not believe that the United Nations or any international organization have any enforcement powers but should just be a forum for deliberation. By the end of the 20th century one of the major conservative complaints about the United Nations was that it could not enforce its resolutions and was a paper tiger.
At the time the Permanent China Seat in the United Nations was held by Chang Kai Chek and his nationalist forces who had abandoned the Chinese Mainland and were holding out on the island of Formosa (Taiwan). The Chinese Communists who represented 800 million Chinese wanted the China Seat. Most of the world saw the solution as recognizing the two de facto Chinas and having them both in the U. N. The Communists insisted that there was only one China and they were the legitimate representatives. The Nationalists, ironically took the same one China position, deluding themselves into thinking that they would get control of the Mainland. They put pressure on the U. S. and we adopted the “One China” policy which was adopted by most of the world. Soon it became evident that Taiwan was a small island of people who represented no one else in China, and the single Chinese seat went to the Communists. Later, many in Taiwan regretted the one China policy and would have loved to be recognized as an independent country.
Roméo Antonius Dallaire OC CMM GOQ MSC CD is a Canadian humanitarian, author, retired senator and Canadian Forces lieutenant-general. Dallaire served as force commander of UNAMIR, the ill-fated United Nations peacekeeping force for Rwanda between 1993 and 1994, and attempted to stop the genocide that was being waged by Hutu extremists against the Tutsi people and Hutu moderates.
