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

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.

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.

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。

Had this book before but cannot find that copy. That is why I purchased this copy. Great book told from the man who was there. Everyone needs to read this to see what a mess the UN is and how, because Rwanda has nothing of importance the world didn't care.