29 March 2012 – As UN Force Commander in Rwanda, 1994, Canadian Senator Romeo Dallaire displayed extraordinary courage in protecting thousands of civilians during the genocide, but failed in his repeated attempts to persuade the UN to
give his mission the mandate and reinforcements it needed to stop the slaughter.
Today, just ahead of events to mark the 18th anniversary of the start of the genocide, Senator Dallaire returned to Rwanda and visited the Kigali Genocide Memorial. It is the second time he has visited – the first being on the tenth anniversary of the genocide in 2004, when the Memorial was opened.
Placing a wreath on mass graves at the Memorial in which some 250,000 victims of the genocide lie buried, the former UN Force Commander reflected:
“It should have never happened. We could have prevented it. And nobody will ever come and explain, really, why they abandoned all of you…. So never rest in peace, and keep haunting us with how we failed you. ‘Never Again’ may be something to talk about, but never forgetting, in order that it doesn’t happen again, is just as important.”
Clearly deeply moved, he added, “This is more significant, to me, than it was at the tenth anniversary…. As I come to these graves, I don’t see them in coffins…. I see them in the streets.”
Senator Dallaire is a Patron of Aegis, the genocide prevention organisation responsible for the Memorial.
“Without not just the advocacy but also the engagement of Aegis in mass atrocities and in genocide, we will forget that we can actually deg
enerate to that,” he commented. “Never could we imagine that it would be a genocide. Well, what we’ve got to make sure is that people don’t forget that it could be a genocide, and you guys are in the front lines of that.”
“Romeo Dallaire put his career and even his life on the line to protect people in danger during the Rwandan Genocide, and for that he will always be not only a hero but also a role model,” commented Dr James Smith, Chief Executive of the Aegis Trust, who greeted Dallaire during his visit.
“We are immensely proud to receive Senator Dallaire and as Rwandans and survivors we will always be grateful to him that when the rest of the World looked away, he did not,” added Freddy Mutanguha, Head of Country for Aegis in Rwanda.
