Kigali, April 94
Every year in April, one can usually find an op-ed about the Rwandan genocide. This year, the International Herald Tribune has opened his columns to Romeo Dallaire, the Canadian general who was in charge of the UN mission in Rwanda at the time of the genocide.
It's been more than 10 years now and Dallaire is still traumatized by what he witnessed in Rwanda. He has described the events in his book, Shake Hands with the Devil and the recent movie Hotel Rwanda describes the genocide through the eyes of an African Schindler. Nick Nolte plays the role of Dallaire. The movie is actually very powerful and I strongly recommend it to anyone who wants to learn more about this somber part of history for Africa and for Western governments. It's quite realistic. For example, the Hotel des Milles Collines looks exactly the same as in reality and the sounds of gunshots fired sporadicaly accross the city are similar to the ones I actually heard in 1994 while I was in Bujumbura.
Many sites, such as this one, are outlining what hapened during 1994 so I won't relate the events here, except the number of death: 800,000! Most of them killed with machettes, unless the victims could pay their killers for a bullet... That's the tragic history of Rwanda and Burundi where killing between Hutus and Tutsis hapened during the same period, albeit at a smaller scale.
And what did France, Belgium (the former colonial power), the US or the UN did at the time? Nothing! And did they learn any lessons? Looking at Darfur, it's hard to think 'yes'. History is repeating itself, all in an almost total indiference of the media and the Western world. And I'm very worried that in 2014, I will go to a movie theatre and watch Hotel Darfur.
Update: At least one company is doing something in Darfur and other places with humanitarian crisis. The WSJ has a compelling story about French company Nutriset who commercialize Plumpy'nut, a nutrition bar that can be consumed right away, without necessary mixing with water.
It's been more than 10 years now and Dallaire is still traumatized by what he witnessed in Rwanda. He has described the events in his book, Shake Hands with the Devil and the recent movie Hotel Rwanda describes the genocide through the eyes of an African Schindler. Nick Nolte plays the role of Dallaire. The movie is actually very powerful and I strongly recommend it to anyone who wants to learn more about this somber part of history for Africa and for Western governments. It's quite realistic. For example, the Hotel des Milles Collines looks exactly the same as in reality and the sounds of gunshots fired sporadicaly accross the city are similar to the ones I actually heard in 1994 while I was in Bujumbura.
Many sites, such as this one, are outlining what hapened during 1994 so I won't relate the events here, except the number of death: 800,000! Most of them killed with machettes, unless the victims could pay their killers for a bullet... That's the tragic history of Rwanda and Burundi where killing between Hutus and Tutsis hapened during the same period, albeit at a smaller scale.
And what did France, Belgium (the former colonial power), the US or the UN did at the time? Nothing! And did they learn any lessons? Looking at Darfur, it's hard to think 'yes'. History is repeating itself, all in an almost total indiference of the media and the Western world. And I'm very worried that in 2014, I will go to a movie theatre and watch Hotel Darfur.
Update: At least one company is doing something in Darfur and other places with humanitarian crisis. The WSJ has a compelling story about French company Nutriset who commercialize Plumpy'nut, a nutrition bar that can be consumed right away, without necessary mixing with water.
posted by k at 12:10 AM
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