Shake Hands with the Devil: The Failure of Humanity in Rwanda

My interest in the Rwandan Genocide was heightened when in 2012 I was sent to Rwanda in a partnership for Africa program with the US Air Force and stayed the Collins (Hotel from the Movie Hotel Rwanda). When I was there I went to the Genocide Museum and Memorial and was both fascinated and appalled that this happened. Since I didn't have much knowledge of the incident, I was in 12th grade when it happened, I decided to read this book as it was highly rated. I'm very glad I did. This was/is an amazing book that goes into substantial detail of how and why this horrific incident happened. As is the case with most nonfiction books there is a bit of history on the author and where they came from, etc. This is kept fairly short in this book and is also relevant to the story and interesting. When Dillaire starts the story of what happened in Rwanda you can tell its not going to end well and he does not hide the bitterness and pain that his 1 yr experience in living hell left him with. Be forewarned this book is very graphic and pulls no punches. The detail in which the actual genocide is detailed and how some of the acts were perpetrated is not for the faint of heart, no pictures are needed and thankfully not included. To be honest there were a few times that some of the details in this book kept me up at night and brought a sense how we "civilized" Nations could have just sat back and 800,000 people be slaughter in 100 days. The detail in this book is not written simply to shock the reader, but rather to inform you (the reader) of the brutality and complete hatred that was so prevalent during this event. This book also does a phenomenal job of also describing the excruciating effects on the UN Peacekeepers and Dillaire that witnessing so much death and destruction had on them. I walked away from reading this book mad that the UN and the "leader" nations of the world didn't give a damn about Rwanda and as is continually demonstrated the African continent. If you decide to buy this book, and I highly recommend that you do, you will understand why I made that last statement. I enjoyed this book immensely and also came away better understanding the sense of abandonment that so many developing countries feel from Western culture and nations, and the continual issues that past colonialism in Africa is still causing today.

Lieutenant General Romeo Dallaire, the commander of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Rwanda during the 1994 Genocide there, wrote "Shake Hands with the Devil". It consists of a day-by-day account of Dallaire's ill-fated UN mission to oversee an end to the civil war that had been eviscerating Rwanda since 1990. Shortly after the initial U.N. deployment, the President's of Rwanda and neigboring Burundi were assassinated when their aircraft was shot down. This event triggered a resurgence in the ethnic fighting that provided cover for government and ethnic Hutu militias to ethnically cleanse, by systematic slaughter, the country's Tutsi ethnic minority. In 100 days, some 800,000 were slaughtered, as the U.N. and the rest of the world idly looked on. I have travelled throughout much of Rwanda on several trips, and Dallaire's account tracks precisely with my own observations. Both the U.N. and the United States political leadership failed monumentally in their assessment and subsequent inaction in Rwanda. The French government and military, who seem to have gotten away relatively unscathed in the arena of public opinion, actually served to aid and abet the genocidaires; a crime for which they will likely never be held to account. On the other side, there is heroism as well, as Africans eventually succeeded on their own, to stop the killing. Dallaire impresses me as a consummate professional who was placed in command of a mission that never had a chance of success. He was profoundly effected, has attempted suicide, and suffers from post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Nevertheless his prose is direct, powerful, his account powerful because of the events that happened, not so much because of his opinions about it. From this reading, as a former soldier, I would fight to serve under such an officer. If you read nothing else about Rwanda, read this book.

I was debating to myself whether to give this three or four stars. I ended up with four largely because I felt that the importance of the book as a chronicle (a chronicle in the classical sense) of the Rwandan Genocide, as well as its positives in general, outweighed the negatives. As a positive, the book is well written in a certain respect. Dallaire is clear, consise and to the point. He also apparently knows what he wants to say, and doesn't skirt the issue. All of this results in what might not be a traditional "easy read," but at least in a relatively brisk one. Stylistically, though, I think Dallaire stumbles. It's obvious that he's a soldier and not an author, and while this leads to the no-nonsense prose detailed above, it can also lead him to an overuse of cliche. I must have read, when Dallaire was describing a building, "it was a _____ affair," at least ten times throughout the book, just as an example. But, truly, this is the editor's failure, and I'm hesitant to lay the blame squarely at Dallaire's feet. Also positive is the fact that Dallaire, despite his overall structure, does manage to create a set of somewhat vibrant characters that appear and re-appear. The enigmatic Paul Kagame, for example, or the competent and loyal subordinates of Dallaire's command, such as Henri Anyidoho. On the negative side, his structure as a whole is purely chronological. On one hand I get the idea that extraneous information was weeded out, but on the other hand, I feel that Dallaire and his editors were too merciful. A good deal could have been taken from the text. On top of all of this, it is in many cases a dry repeat of events. To some degree this makes sense, I suppose - Dallaire wants us to follow him through his deployment to Rwanda. But on the other hand, I think it hurts his semi-stated aim of Mea Culpa, since a true Mea Culpa should come through analysis and retrospection. Dallaire avoids all of that, and while there are (precious few) tidbits of analysis, they're generally short and tacked on to the daily report. What so-and-so was thinking, what such-and-such was doing behind the scenes and how it fit in, etc.. It would have been stronger if he had developed the analysis explicitly and over time through various sections of the book. For a book that is, in many ways, a Mea Culpa, Dallaire shirks having to do much personal analysis on the Rwandan Genocide and how it affected him, other than little morsels and a sentence here and there. How did it affect his family life? How did it affect his career? These issues are briefly mentioned in the introduction, but never touched on afterwards. He mentions he gave a soldirly farewell to his eldest son, instead of a fatherly one, and mentions that would come back to haunt him, but he never explains why. All in all, it would have been better as a personal retrospective than a dry reportage. It would have fit the subject matter, too - an actual historical account of the Rwandan Genocide would have been best served by an author writing on the players from a third person omniscient perspective. Dallaire's first person perspective hamstrings any attempt at an actual chronicle of events because it's far too one sided - we know of Kagame, for instance, pretty much only what Dallaire has encountered in him. A recitation of events and interviews on one side doesn't make for a good chronicle. It would have been far more potent as a personal reflection on his work there, fitted out with analysis on the powers and players and himself that was lacking in the often clinical and detached repeat of each day's events. None of this makes it a bad book - it's quite a good book. It gives the reader a wonderful inside look at the Rwandan Genocide by a by all accounts stalwart and competent commander. I just wonder if he made a mistake on the form.

In 1994, between April 7 and July 15, nearly one million innocent people were killed in the Rwandan Genocide. Subsequent wars in the region killed more than five million people. The genocide was planned years in advice, perpetrated by racist nationalists bent on removing Tutsis from the planet. In "Shake Hands with the Devil: The Failure of Humanity in Rwanda," Roméo Dallaire convinces readers that these tragedies were easily preventable, but dithering politicians and bureaucrats all over the world watched in disinterest. The book is compelling. Having read extensively for academic and personal reasons about the genocide, I knew many of the details listed below, so Dallaire's book had been sitting on my shelf unread for almost 15 years. I wish I had read it sooner because it is Dallaire and his military subordinates - not international aide groups or politicians - who were the international witnesses to these crimes. The book moves quickly because it reads like a daily journal. Although it can be very disturbing and depressing given the nature of the genocide, there are moments of manic highs, too. It is emotional and frustrating because readers will be able to quickly identify with Dallaire's heart. He is effuse in praising his his-working aides and does not hold back at offering his personal assessments of the people who impede his work. Dallaire's book, dedicated to victims, including the soldiers killed under his command, details his negotiations to stop the genocide and his actions during the genocide to bring an end to it. Assigned to Rwanda as part of a United Nations team in the summer of 1993 in order to help implement a peace agreement between the standing government and an incoming rebel army, he saw firsthand that a humanitarian crisis was coming. His documented pleas for help from New York, Paris, Nairobi, Geneva, Washington DC, and London in the first part of the book were willfully ignored as he and his small team of military observers shuttled around the country trying to avert the disaster. He was denied requests for funding for communications equipment, rations for his soldiers, office space, and even simple soccer balls to replace the banana-leaf balls used in refugee camps. Extremist politicians on the government side began openly looking for a way to instigate the attack that led to the genocide. Their wish was granted when their moderate president's plane went down, probably from their own missile. Even after this catalyst, Dallaire's team's cries for help continued to be ignored. The bulk of "Shake Hands with the Devil" documents the daily routine of these brave observers who were abandoned by the UN and their supporting states. The book presents awful images and stories of the genocide and the people whom the UN also abandoned. Dallaire asked for only 5,000 troops in order to save the country, but he was denied time and time again as bureaucrats and politicians in cities around the world took weekends off and justified his cries by telling him that the UN doesn't work quickly. That time was dizzying, destructive, and counter-productive when the French finally arrived to establish camps that protected runaway génocidaires, those responsible for openly slaughtering Tutsis in churches, orphanages, hamlets, and checkpoints in cities. By that time, nearly a million people had been cut down with machetes. The génocidaires rearmed themselves in the international refugee camps, leading to the subsequent Congo Wars. In the last, shortest section of the book, Dallaire offers suggestions for improving how governments respond to humanitarian crises outside their borders. His suggestions are reasonable. In the case of Rwanda, simple support for implementing the peace agreement would have been enough. Unfortunately, as we have seen time and again, from Sudan to Myanmar to Wester China, the international community, including national capitals, relief organizations, and the UN, refuse to use the needed fiscal and physical muscle in order to save lives. "Shake Hands with the Devil" has an extensive index and a glossary of terms and names, although Dallaire's easy-to-read style reminds readers of who he is meeting and working with, so there is little reason to consult it.

I feel like one simply cannot understand the depth and width of the Rwandan Genocide if they have not read Shake Hands With The Devil. Lt. Gen. Romeo Dallaire is a key figure in the tragedy which unfolded there. While many people can offer insight he was one the only people who sat at the intersection of it all. Dallaire met nearly all the key players many times; he travelled across lines and boundaries seeing different perspectives; he conversed with the innocent, the evil, the helpless, the bystanders, the politicians, the media, the entire spectrum of international players and of course, the men themselves who committed the worst genocide of our generation. He quite literally looked in the eye of mass murderers as they had the fresh blood of slaughter on their clothes. He Shook Hands With The Devil. The totality of this book can be summarized as frustration and futility. Despite clear communication with the world of the tragedy unfolding before his and his observers eyes, nobody wanted to act. Dallaire begged, pleaded, demanded, extorted, and warned the powers at the table for action. Action that he was in a position to employ to save hundreds of thousands of lives but the world ignored him. Ignored Rwanda. Ignored the promise they make after every single genocide and ethnic cleansing: “Never again”. Yet, that’s what they did. Dallaire can offer an insight no other observer of this tragedy can because of the uniqueness of his role in the event. If you want to truly grasp how easily this could’ve been a different story then you really need to read this powerful story. It reads in the controlled and factual prose of a professional military man and the matter-of-fact reporting creates a sense of deeper pain when the image of professional soldier cracks and his humanity and soul bends under the absolutely impossible strain of witnessing an entire people being culled like animals. I recommend this book and understanding the lessons of Rwanda. It will happen again and in fact the blades of slaughter are being sharpened again in several parts of the world, now.

Mr Dallaire (the term Mr chosen deliberately out of respect) is owed a great debt by all Mankind. The courage of this man is truly humbling. To stand alone shoulder to shoulder with his few troops (Men and Women) and fearlessly face down this kind of demon-ism is the true mark of a Peace warrior in every sense of the word. The self centeredness and complete ambivalence of the World community is disappointingly affirmation of what many already suspect. To sacrifice 800 000 lives at the alter of self interest is true evil. This is a story that is not easy to read as it is very uncomfortable and confronting but is well written. This is story that should be told in Schools. Mr Dallaire tells the story with dignity and respect. The story is not full of the details of the genocide although enough of those, unavoidably, reveal them selves - it is troubling enough even so. A must read for anyone with a conscience and real interest in how the World truly functions. A well balanced fascinating insight into how the UN works (or probably most accurately doesn't work). This is not a poor me story but one of incredible courage with the acceptance of his own role. He, unjustifiably in my view, accepts his fair share of responsibility for the events. He learns of Gods existence as he shook hands with the Devil (his words) , truly a visual phrase. I would love to shake his hand and thank him for his contribution to humanity, much respect to a tourtured soul. I learned alot about leadership from this.

Author LTGEN Romeo Dallaire has written an extremely moving, yet disturbing, account of his experiences as the Force Commander (FC) of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Rwanda (UNAMIR). General Dallaire's extremely detailed account of his experiences capture the reader from the outset. He details places, people and events in such a way that the reader can actually envisage themselves as being with the FC, as he took on this immensely daunting task from the outset. His extreme descriptions of countless meetings and dealings with various people gives the reader the sense of the intensity that he felt as he continued to strive to keep things moving forward and attempt to get a sense of stability and put people on the ground in UNAMIR. He details the shortages of almost everything from vehicles and radios, to pencils and cash as he throws himself into this task with energy and absolute commitment. Coupled with this intensity from his side was the problem of getting support and enough people to take his task seriously. The continual slow pace of UNAMIR as it took off, probably gave the impression to all parties in the Rwandan conflict the impression nobody really cares. It also highlights the problem the UN is experiencing with over-stretch in its peace operations as the Department of Peacekeeping Operations attempts to keep pace with the resolutions from the UN Security Council. As the mission established itself, the plane crash that killed the Rwandan and Burundian Presidents act as the catalyst for the events that follow and General Dallaire details in somewhat horrifying and sickening detail, the horror that unfolded. One particularly gruesome account is of the Gikondo massacre; where Polish UNMOS and priests are forced, at gunpoint, to watch while men, women and children were massacred inside the church with machetes. As these internationals begged for the people's lives, they had guns forced into their faces to keep their heads up so they could see the events better. He also describes crossing a pontoon bridge where dead bodies are caught under the bridge and he looks down and sees their dead faces looking up... Romeo Dallaire emerged from UNAMIR with PTSD, he notes that many of the personnel who served with him in UNAMIR were likewise affected by what they experienced and had to confront on a daily basis. I was moved by this book, as it gives an extremely detailed account of one of the most atrocious events in modern history; it details the experiences of one man and his attempt at trying to make a noble cause work. He did achieve many things as FC of UNAMIR, perhaps the intensity of his commitment was to prove his undoing as he continually pushed himself to try and make UNAMIR work and try and bring the plight of Rwanda to the attention of the world.I also related closely to this book as General Dallaire put his mission first and he cites his personal battles with many situations-not accepting the best car in the Mission's vehicle fleet, for fear of giving out the wrong impression, not devoting himself enough to his family and other stressors that we tend to impose on ourselves in high intensity situations. In summary, an extremely well written and detailed account of one of the great tragedies of our time. One that still has many unanswered questions and one whose legacy continues to haunt those who were part of the tragedy. It took Romeo Dallaire seven years before he commenced to write this book. It is a book that needed to be written, because it needs to be read. Good on you, LTGEN Dallaire, well done!

Starts out good and is an important read. However from my view spirals into a hellish land scape of subterfuge? In the end the feel for the book is lost in back room ramblings and government B.S... At times plays out as reasoning for the authors inability to affect change? Like the crew on the titanic there was no stopping this human tragedy. I feel for the author. Just wish the book was more about the people of Rwanda and not the failings of the world. People fail people....happened before will happen again.

Jamais je n'aurais pensé à acheter ce livre si un ami canadien ne me l'avait pas fortement conseillé. Une fois commencé, je ne l'ai pas quitté. C'est passionnant et démoralisant de voir un homme, un humaniste sincère, impuissant à sauver des êtres humains à cause de bureaucrates robotisés, sourds et aveugles. On se demande à quoi sert l'ONU. Cet homme, Romeo Dallaire est sorti démoli de cette mission ; il a mis du temps à remonter la pente mais n'a pas laissé tomber. Il faut lire aussi "Ils se battent comme des soldats ils meurent comme des enfants : Pour en finir avec le recours aux enfants soldats", pour avoir le moral encore plus bas dans les chaussettes mais qui vous ouvre les yeux. Après ces deux livres on devient plus attentif à ce qui se passe ailleurs.

Interetsing

Si alguna vez oíste hablar del genocidio de Ruanda y quieres saber más, este es tu libro. Pero ojo, no es un libro cómodo de leer y te va a revolver las tripas. No te aconsejo que lo leas antes de irte a la cama (tuve pesadillas algunas noches). El libro es brutal, desgarrador. Como solo lo puede ser el relato del horror vivido desde dentro y desde la impotencia de ver como el mal existe y gana la partida en tu propia cara. Entiendo que el autor haya querido quitarse la vida en más de una ocasión y que viva bajo el yugo del Estrés Post Traumático aún hoy en día. Si alguien con su rango y su formación puede acabar al borde de la locura, no quiero ni imaginar por lo que debe pasar un simple soldado arrancado de su granja en Ohio a los 18 años para luchar en guerras aún peores...

Great account of what unfolded in Rwanda from the front line. The UN, then like now, was impervious the events until someone else sorted things out for them

100日間で80万人ものおびただしい死者を出したルワンダのジェノサイド。本書は、国連平和維持軍司令官として現場に居合わせ、事態の成り行きをじかに目の当たりにしたロメオ・ダレールの手記である。1993年10月のダレールの着任から、一連の大虐殺を挟んで1994年8月に彼がルワンダを離任するまでをほぼ時系列にそって記述されていく。 血の海に転がる死体の山、そのまえで手斧を置いて、一休みとばかりにタバコをふかしながら談笑する青年たちの姿。教会につめこまれた何百もの死体。道を通れば、そこかしこに死体、死体──。こうした凄惨なシーンばかりでなく、それをじかに目撃せざるを得なかったダレールたちの厳しい苦悩が行間から浮かび上がってきて、読み手の胸倉をつかんで離さない。 自分たちは平和維持軍としてやって来て、まさに目の前で大虐殺が繰り広げられているにもかかわらず、何もできなかった──。ルワンダでこの眼で見た光景、鼻についたにおい、そして何よりも自責の念が帰国後も脳裏から離れず、ダレールは自殺未遂までしている。PTSD（心的外傷後ストレス障害）と診断された。単なる証言という以上に、彼自身の後悔がたたきつけられているような、訴える力を強く持った本だ。 ダレールたち現場の人々がジリジリと焦る姿には、紛争解決・平和構築の障碍となる問題が集約されている。ジェノサイドで孤児となった子供たちが、結局は暴力と憎悪の連鎖を断ち切れないのではないかという彼の不安には考えさせられてしまう。広い意味で国際貢献の問題を考える上で必読書だと思う。どこかの出版社が翻訳権を取得しているようなので、日本語訳の刊行を期待したい。