On television recently, on a great ABC show called 'Foreign correspondent', I saw an excellent story on a man I had previously never heard of, Romeo Dallaire. To a Canadian, I think this is sacrilegious, as he is considered a national hero, and from what I've now heard and read about him, that title is rightly deserved.
His name has come to prominence recently with the release of the movie, 'Hotel Rwanda'. Dallaire, led an ill-fated peacekeeping mission for the United Nations during the Rwandan genocide in the 80's. The star of the movie is a hotel owner who helps save hundreds of Rwandans from needless slaughter, during a civil war between different tribal groups.
To say Dallaire led an ill-fated peacekeeping mission is a bit of an understatement - 800,000 people - men, women and children - were killed in only 100 days. In many cases, death was not swift either. To quote Dallaire "a machete doesn't kill from the first blow". Many innocent civilians were tortured. Dallaire was initially sent with a small force to observe and assist. When he pleaded with the UN that more help was needed, more troops to stem the flow of bloodshed, his cries fell on deaf ears. Both the US and France (agreeing in this case) deemed that it was not in their national interest to stop the mass genocide in Rwanda - that it was an internal matter. I wonder what a difference a few Rwandan oil fields may have made.
Despite having only around 500 troops to distribute aid and try and stop the killing, Dallaire never gave up, continually pleading with the UN to send help. They finally did, but it was much, much too late.
Despite giving his best efforts and the little help he received from the UN, Dallaire has never forgiven himself for all the lives lost in Rwanda. In the interview I saw, as footage showed him leaving Rwanda to cheers from onlookers, he said at the time he wished his car would run over a landmine, or something else would kill him. The guilt he felt about leaving after so many preventable deaths was overwhelming. Dallaire suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder following his horrific experiences. He attempted suicide several times, he was so racked with guilt.
He has since somewhat recovered, returning his life, as he said, to some form of normality. He still cannot go to supermarkets, as the smell of fresh meat brings back many painful memories ( a scary thought). He has been given many awards and still works to this day to prevent other Rwandan-style crises and raise awareness of the genocide that did occur in Rwanda.
For me, hearing about Romeo Dallaire really made me think about how so often it is easy to blame anyone or thing else for anything that goes wrong, but seldom do we look at our own responsibilities. Maybe it can be a good thing to take more control and responsibility for life.
