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SINS OF OMISSION
Dallaire, Roméo. Shake Hands with the Devil: The Failure of Humanity in Rwanda. New York: Carroll and Graf, 2004. 562pp. $16.95
Interventions by the United Nations for the purpose of establishing and maintaining peace have a mixed record. Some have been reasonably successful, such as in East Timor, while others, such as Rwanda, have not. Roméo Dallaire, the author, a retired lieutenant general in the Canadian army, suggests that efforts by the United Nations security Council largely depend upon the location of the problem area. East Timor, just to the north of Australia and on the flank of major shipping routes, met the requirements. Rwanda, in his opinion, did not.
Under the Charter of the United Nations, interventions may be governed by Chapter 6, which stipulates that the peacekeeping contingent is not to use force but to separate the warring sides, all the while maintaining a neutral stance. However, under Chapter 7, UN troops are authorized to use force to keep the antagonists apart. Dallaire speaks of a Chapter 6 ½, a hybrid of the two without official UN sanction. When the decision was made to send a Chapter 6 mission to Rwanda, the Canadians, whose army had had considerable experience in the peacekeeping field, offered to provide a commander, some of the staff, and logistic support. Dallaire, who had recently been promoted to the rank of general and whose tour in Canada had come to an end, leaped at the opportunity to go to Rwanda when the command was offered. Upon reporting to UN headquarters in New York, Dallaire was told that his resources were limited and that the mission had to be small. He was ordered to design the mission to fit those parameters and not the demands of the actual situation. A devout Catholic, he was particularly interested in protecting human life. Such commitment, not uncommon among military personnel,...