Review: Shake Hands with the Devil
| Published date | 01 June 2004 |
| Date | 01 June 2004 |
| DOI | 10.1177/002070200405900212 |
| Author | Roger Sarty |
| Subject Matter | Review |
REVIEWS
SHAKE
HANDS
WITH
THE
DEVIL
The
Failure
of
Humanity
in
Rwanda
Romdo
Dallaire
Toronto:
Random House Canada,
2003.
xxii,
562
pp,
$39.95
cloth
(ISBN
0-679-31171-8)
T
his
is
General
Romeo
Dallaire's
day-by-day
account
of
his
com-
mand
of
the
United
Nations
Assistance
Mission
for
Rwanda
(UNAMIR)
in
1993-1994.
The
immediate
roots
of
the conflict
in
that
small
nation
date
back
to
the
First
World
War,
when
Belgium
took
trusteeship
over
the former
German
colony.
The
Belgians
promoted
the
minority
Tutsi
tribe
as
the
elite
administrative
class
until
revolution
by
the
Hutu
majority
brought
national
independence
in
1962.
Violent
repression
by
the
new
Hutu-dominated
government
caused
hundreds
of
thousands
of
Tutsis
to
flee,
mainly
to
neighbouring
Uganda.
The
Tutsi
repeatedly
mounted
cross-border
attacks in
an effort
to
bring
down
the
Hutu
regime and
allow
a
return
of
the
refugees
to
their
homes.
In
1990 the
Rwandan
Patriotic
Front,
led by
Tutsis
who
had
become
capable soldiers
in
Uganda's
internal
conflicts,
launched
an
offensive
that
would
have
defeated
the
Rwandan
Government
Forces
but
for
the
important
military
assistance
the
latter
received
from
France, especially,
and
Belgium.
French
and
Belgian
support
recog-
nized
the
de
facto
authority
of
the
Hutu
majority,
but
also,
to
some
extent,
the
politics
of
language:
The
Rwandan
Patriotic
Front,
raised
among
Tutsis
who
had
lived
most
of
their
lives
in
the
former
British
colony
of
Uganda,
was
mainly
English
speaking.
The
United
Nations
Assistance
Mission
was
conceived
in great
hope
in
1993.
Following
stalemate
on
the
battlefield,
the
warring
parties
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL
Spring
2004
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