In 1993, Roméo Dallaire, a Canadian Lieutenant General, undertook the biggest command of his career- leading the United Nations Assistance Mission for Rwanda (UNAMIR).

 

The goal of the mission was to assist in the implementation of the Arusha Accords between the then Rwandan Government and the Rwandan Patriotic Army (RPA) rebels.

 

A year later, Dallaire watched helplessly as more than one million people were slaughtered in the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, despite his pleas for more UNAMIR troops to stop the massacres.

 

On January 20, 1994, Dallaire made a chilling discovery. An informant warned him that the Hutu government had no desire to implement the Arusha Accords. They were, instead, planning bloodshed, an outright slaughter and elimination of the Tutsi.

 

Dallaire reported to the UN Security Council in New York, but no one cared.

 

Three months later, in April 1994, massacres against the Tutsi started. He asked the UN for reinforcements but the former responded by withdrawing the bulk of the blue helmets that were already there.

 

Right there and then, no one in the world was interested in stopping the Genocide.

 

The international community failed Rwanda.

 

Dallaire and the remaining of his few hundred peacekeepers could do little such as in humanitarian efforts, and protecting a small number of people, while he repeatedly and futilely attempted to negotiate a cease-fire.

 

As the United Nations stood by, the RPF put an end to the Genocide after 100 days of hell.

 

Weeks after the end of the Genocide, a guilt-ridden Dallaire left Rwanda. He believed the UN could have done more to prevent the Genocide and effectively saved the lives of hundreds of thousands of Tutsi who perished.

 

In his book, Shake Hands with the Devil: The Failure of Humanity in Rwanda, Dallaire described his chilling experience during the Genocide, and the evident failure from the international community.

 

“But in the moment, it seemed to me that I had backed away from a fight for what was right, that this failure stood for all our failures in Rwanda,” he wrote.

 

After his horrific experience in Rwanda, today, the former Senator has made peace activism his new weapon, and devoted himself to humanitarian work, advocating for military veterans and championing the prevention of the use of children in armed conflicts.

 

Unlike Dallaire, close to three decades after the Genocide, no country has owned up to failing Rwanda at its darkest hour. Today, these same nations’ failure is evident, when they adamantly refuse to punish Genocide suspects but instead hide and work with them.

 

Leaders of countries like the US, UK, Belgium, and France, were the first to advocate for the withdrawal of the peacekeepers from Rwanda in 1994. Now, their countries are harboring the largest number of genocide fugitives in their communities.

 

Related: Genocide fugitives hiding in plain sight

 

Related: Inside Rwanda’s bilateral, multilateral interventions to bring peace in conflict areas

 

Three decades later, Rwandans have learnt that no one will come to their rescue.

 

That is why the Rwandan state has been building its capacity to stand on its own while lending a hand to other African nations in need.