Understanding the event
The forces at play
© Canadian Armed Forces – Warrant Officer (Retired) John Blouin.
At the start of the genocide, on 7 April 1994, the international community was represented in Rwanda by UNAMIR, which had 2,548 soldiers led by Canadian General Roméo Dallaire. Deployed to ensure the implementation of the Arusha Accords and the democratic transition, the international force at no time seeks to stop the spiral of violence and attends without intervening the first massacres.
Symbolic gesture, the inaction of UNAMIR, which under the direction of the UN Security Council limits its role to the protection and evacuation of expatriates, constitutes the blank check of the international community on extremists. Assured of their impunity, they implement their genocidal plan.