"Shake Hands With The Devil" by Roméo Dallaire

Shake Hands with the Devil: The Failure of Humanity in Rwanda
by Lt. Gen. Roméo Dallaire

http://www.amazon.com/Shake-Hands-Devil-Failure-Humanity/dp/0786715103/ref=pd_bbs_2/002-7363174-5144854?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1187222660&sr=8-2


I was 18 and in college when the Rwandan genocide occurred. Like most people who saw it unfolding on TV I was shocked and horrified, probably more so than most of my friends and family as I was always very interested in world affairs and couldn't get the image out of my head of reporters measuring the scale of the genocide by counting the bodies per hour floating down the river across the Rwandan border. But, like most folks, I chalked it up as some tragic event in an inexplicably complex corner of Africa and mostly forgot about it as I went on with my life.

Fast forward to 2006. Sometime last year I'm channel surfing and see something on the satellite guide called "Shake Hands with the Devil" on the Documentary Channel and saw it was something about Rwanda. Curious, I started watching, and before long not only was I pulled back into remembering the savagery of the genocide, but I found myself sucked into the personality of the man whom the documentary was about - the head of the small UN mission in Rwanda at the time, General Roméo Dallaire.

I've actually never seen that entire documentary, just large chunks of it. It actually was about his return to the country 10 years after the genocide and followed him as he visited old friends and places where events had occurred, with lots of space for flashbacks and commentary from others. The visual imagery was disturbing and moving, I actually just ordered the DVD so I can watch the whole thing (you can order it here - http://www.newsreel.org/nav/title.asp?tc=CN0175&s), but when I heard Dallaire had written a book, I wanted to read that too.

The book is in some ways a mini-autobiography, followed by a detailed account of Dallaire's year in Rwanda. There are numerous instances of descriptions of the more gruesome events he witnessed, but it is not a catalog of attrocities. It is events as he experienced them, and clearly going through something so harrowing while simultaneously struggling day in and day out to do something - anything - to save people and stop the killing, he became numb for a while to much of what was occurring (though he paid for it dearly with post-traumatic stress disorder, alcoholism, and nightmarish flashbacks for years since).

Not insensitive though, not by a long shot. Dallaire strikes me as a fundamentally humble, decent, hard-working, and dedicated man. And utterly and completely color-blind, a through-and-through believer in the common humanity of us all. He grew up living between the French and English-speaking worlds of Canada and often found himself trying to be the conciliator or else someone castigated by both sides for failing to march to one extremist drum or the other. But he stuck it out and clearly his dedication to hard work combined with his genuine affection and caring for others is what turned him into an admired and respected leader in the Canadian military and ultimately as head of UNAMIR (the UN mission in Rwanda). He wouldn't and doesn't say that himself in his book, he is more apt to focus on his failings and point out where he is responsible for mistakes, but it shines through. With 100 generals like him running UN operations (if backed up by proper troops, political will, and logistics), an amazing amount of good and conflict resolution could clearly be accomplished in the world.

But back to the book. He runs through his life and Canadian military career pre-Rwanda, and then from his copious notes (and those of his dedicated staff) constructs an almost day-by-day account of what happened. What emerges is a story of multiple failures by almost every party involved in the conflict that allowed it to happen and play out as disastrously as it did. No one who screwed up escapes blame, the UN bureaucracy, the US, France, Belgium, NGOs, the pre-war Rwandan government, the rebel RPF force that became the new government, the Bangladeshi military (for pete's sake!), and many others. On the other hand, the men Dallaire commanded and many individuals and some organizations shine through as having remained tiny flickers of light in the darkest days. The Rwandan Red Cross somehow managed to keep operating throughout the conflict despite many of its workers themselves and the patients they were ferrying being massacred. The troops Dallaire commanded including an amazing pair of contingents from Tunisia and Ghana and many individuals from other countries saved thousands of lives, but the men were permanently scarred by the massacres they couldn't stop (sometimes right in front of their eyes) and some they even indirectly helped cause (being sent to a place to rescue someone, being unable to find them because they were hiding in fear of their lives, leaving, then coming back the next day to find the people slaughtered because the Interahamwe militia had seen the UN troops and realized someone was hiding there).

Anyhow, these are just some broad impressions from the book. His conclusions at the end are perhaps the weakest part of the book - well intentioned, but perhaps not the most practically thought out. But I count that as a minor error and it doesn't change the fact that if the politicians would have listened to him more they would and could have done far better for Rwanda and the entire Great Lakes region in the decade of misery that has followed. What comes through is a man who genuinely and deeply cared for the people and country he was trying to save, was blocked and ultimately used as a pawn by conniving forces bigger than him (especially France and the US), but who nonetheless showed great courage and truly showed the spirit of what UN forces are ideally trying to be - studiously neutral, but genuinely out to try to create the conditions for peace and not afraid to wield a stick when necessary. And in an incredibly practical way. This is no flower child speaking, he is a military man, but a military man with a heart, a brain, and an ability to work with people with an incredible intensity that is sorely needed in the world. Read the book, you'll never look at Rwanda, the world community and powers that be in Rwanda, or the UN quite the same. And you'll thank the Lord that there are men like Roméo Dallaire in this world.