Roméo Dallaire

In late 1993, Dallaire received his commission as the major-general of UNAMIR, the United Nations Assistance Mission for Rwanda. UNAMIR's goal was to assist in the implementation of the Arusha Accords, a peace agreement intended to end the Rwandan Civil War. The UN attempted to negotiate with the Hutus in the Rwandan army and with Juvénal Habyarimana, a Hutu who was president at the time, and with the Tutsis, as represented by the rebel commander Paul Kagame, who led the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF). (He later was elected as President of Rwanda as of September 2017.) When Dallaire arrived in Rwanda, his mandate was to supervise the implementation of the accords during a transitional period in which Tutsis were to be given some positions of power within the Hutu-dominated government.

There were early signs that something was amiss when, on January 22, 1994, a French DC-8 aircraft landed in Kigali, the capital of Rwanda, loaded with ammunition and weapons for the Rwandan Armed Forces (FAR). (FAR was the Hutu army under Habyarimana's control.) Dallaire notified the UN by fax, suggesting he seize these weapons to prevent violence, but the UN deemed this action to be beyond his UN mandate.[9] In addition to the arms deliveries, he learned that troops from the Rwandan government began checking identity cards, which identified individuals by ethnicity as Hutu or Tutsi.

On January 11, 1994, Dallaire sent his "Genocide Fax" to UN Headquarters.[10] The fax stated that Dallaire was in contact with "a top level trainer in the cadre of Interhamwe-armed [sic] militia of MRND." The informant claimed to have been ordered to register all Tutsi in Kigali. According to the memo, the informant suspected that a genocide against the Tutsis was being planned, and he said that "in 20 minutes his personnel could kill up to 1000 Tutsis". Dallaire's request to protect the informant and his family and to raid the weapons caches he revealed was denied by the UN.[11]

The result was a genocide of between 500,000 and 1,000,000. Seven out of every ten Tutsis were killed.[12]

Roméo Dallaire learned of the Hutu Power movement during the mission's deployment, as well as plans for the mass extermination of Tutsi.[13] He also became aware of secret weapons caches through an informant, but his request to raid them was turned down by the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO),[13] which felt that Dallaire was exceeding his mandate and had to be kept "on a leash".[11][13] Seizing the weapons was argued to be squarely within UNAMIR's mandate; both sides had requested UNAMIR and it had been authorized by the UN Security Council in Resolution 872.[14]

UNAMIR's effectiveness in peacekeeping was also hampered by the Rwandan president, Juvénal Habyarimana and Hutu hardliners,[15] and by April 1994, the Security Council threatened to terminate UNAMIR's mandate if it did not make progress.[13]

Following the death of Habyarimana, and the start of the genocide, Dallaire liaised repeatedly with both the Crisis Committee and the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), attempting to re-establish peace and prevent the resumption of the civil war.[15] Neither side was interested in a ceasefire, the government because it was controlled by the genocidaires, and the RPF because it considered it necessary to fight to stop the killings.[13] UNAMIR's Chapter VI mandate rendered it powerless to intervene militarily,[15] and most of its Rwandan staff were killed in the early days of the genocide, severely limiting its ability to operate.[13]

UNAMIR was therefore largely reduced to a bystander role, and Dallaire later labelled it a "failure".[13] Its most significant contribution was to provide refuge for thousands of Tutsi and moderate Hutu at its headquarters in Amahoro Stadium, as well as other secure UN sites,[16] and to assist with the evacuation of foreign nationals. On 12 April, the Belgian government, which was one of the largest troop contributors to UNAMIR,[17] and had lost ten soldiers protecting the Rwandan prime minister, Agathe Uwilingiyimana, announced that it was withdrawing, reducing the force's effectiveness even further.[18]

Dallaire was later on severely criticized by the Belgian parliamentary commission for his role leading to the torture and murder of ten members of the 2nd Commando Battalion and their protected charge. While Lieutenant Lotin and his men were being tortured and murdered, Dallaire passed by at 60 metres. Seeing the Belgium soldiers Dallaire did not intervene. In his answer to the martial council he would later say "I did not know whether they were dead or injured."[19] He went on to meet officers of the Rwanda army at the Military School, but did not mention the event. The company of the Bangladeshi Battalion which had the task of Quick Reaction Force was ill prepared and did not leave their barracks. After those events Belgium withdrew its forces from Rwanda. Dallaire considered them to be his best-trained[20] and best-equipped forces. The commission of inquiry of the Belgian Senate in 1998 severely condemned Dallaire’s actions during those days. According to the parliamentary commission Dallaire adopted an overly reserved attitude in the months before the genocide undermining the credibility of UNAMIR in the eyes of the Rwandans. Furthermore Dallaire’s actions were considered to be “imprudent and unprofessional to have the Belgian escorts provided on 7 April with so few military precautions”. In addition, the commission stated it "did not understand why general Dallaire, who had noted the blue beret bodies in the Kigali camp, did not communicate this immediately to the FAR'S high-ranking officers at the meeting of the École supérieure and did not demand the urgent intervention of those Rwandan officers present. This appears to reflect considerable indifference on his part. Moreover, general Dallaire also neglected to inform his sector commander about what he had seen and to give the necessary instructions".[21][19] On 17 May 1994, the UN passed Resolution 918, which imposed an arms embargo and reinforced UNAMIR, which would be known as UNAMIR II.[22] The new soldiers did not start arriving until June,[23] and following the end of the genocide in July, the role of UNAMIR II was largely confined to maintaining security and stability, until its termination in 1996.[24]

Several individuals attempted to halt the Rwandan genocide, or to shelter vulnerable Tutsi. Among them were Dallaire, Henry Kwami Anyidoho (Ghanaian deputy commander of UNAMIR), Pierantonio Costa (Italian diplomat who rescued many lives), Antonia Locatelli (Italian volunteer who in 1992, two years before the actual genocide, tried to save 300 or 400 Tutsis by calling officials in the international community and was later murdered by the Interahamwe), Jacqueline Mukansonera (Hutu woman who saved a Tutsi during the genocide), Zura Karuhimbi (Hutu elderly widow who sheltered more than 100 refugees in her village home, posing as a witch to repel and frighten militiamen), Paul Rusesabagina (the Academy Award nominated film Hotel Rwanda is based on his story), Carl Wilkens (the only American who chose to remain in Rwanda during the genocide), André Sibomana (Hutu priest and journalist who saved many lives) and Captain Mbaye Diagne (Senegalese army officer of UNAMIR who saved many lives before he was killed).

Dallaire gave the major force contributors different evaluations for their work. In his book, he gave the Tunisian and Ghanaian contingents high praise for their valiant and competent work.[25] Three of Ghana's peacekeepers died in the warfare.

As the massacre progressed and the press covered the genocide more widely, the UN Security Council backtracked and voted to establish UNAMIR II, with a strength of 5,500 men, in response to the French plan to occupy portions of the country. (Dallaire initially opposed the so-called French Opération Turquoise, because the French had a history of backing the Hutus and the Rwandan Armed Forces. He believed their presence would be opposed by Kagame and the rebel RPF). It was not until early July, when RPF troops under Kagame swept into Kigali, that the genocide ended. By August, the French had handed their portion of the country to the RPF, giving Kagame effective control of all of Rwanda.

Testimony at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda demonstrated that the genocide was brutally efficient, lasting for a total of 100 days and leading to the murder of 800,000 Tutsi, Hutu moderates and Twa. More than two million people were displaced internally or in neighbouring countries. The genocide ended when the Rwandan Patriotic Front gained control of Rwanda on July 18, 1994. But political unrest and violence have continued, with recrimination and retribution. The government continues to conduct criminal prosecutions in the war.

Dallaire signing copies of his book Shake Hands with the Devil.

Upon his return to Canada from UNOMUR and UNAMIR, Dallaire was appointed to two simultaneous commands in September 1994: deputy commander of Land Force Command in Saint-Hubert, Quebec and commander of 1st Canadian Division. In October 1995, Dallaire assumed command of Land Force Quebec Area.

In 1996, Dallaire was promoted as chief of staff and to the assistant deputy minister (personnel) group at National Defence Headquarters. In 1998, he was assigned to the assistant deputy minister (human resources – military) and in 1999 was appointed special advisor to the chief of the defence staff on Officer Professional Development.

Dallaire suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder and in 2000, attempted suicide by combining alcohol with his anti-depressant medication, a near fatal combination which left him comatose.[26][27] Dallaire is an outspoken supporter of raising awareness for veterans' mental health.

In January 2004, Dallaire appeared at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda to testify against Colonel Théoneste Bagosora. The testimony was critical to the outcome of the trial and in December 2008 Bagosora was convicted of genocide and for the command responsibility of the murders of the 10 Belgian Peacekeepers. The trial chamber held that: "it is clear that the killing of the peacekeepers formed part of the widespread and systematic attack",[28] while at the same time holding that: "the evidence suggests that these killings were not necessarily part of a highly coordinated plan."[29] He later worked as a special advisor to the Government of Canada on War Affected Children and the Prohibition of Small Arms Distribution, as well as with international agencies with the same focus, including child labour. In 2004–2005, he served as a fellow at the Carr Center For Human Rights Policy at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government.

On March 24, 2005, Dallaire was appointed to the Senate of Canada by Governor General Adrienne Clarkson on the advice of Prime Minister Paul Martin. He represented the province of Quebec and sat as a Liberal until January 29, 2014, when he along with all of his Liberal Senate peers were removed from the party caucus by party leader Justin Trudeau, after which he officially sat as an Independent Liberal. Dallaire noted that his family has supported both the Liberal Party of Canada and the Quebec Liberal Party since 1958. He supported Michael Ignatieff's unsuccessful 2006 bid for the leadership of the federal Liberal Party.

In 2007, Dallaire called for the reopening of Collège militaire royal de Saint-Jean, saying "The possibility of starting a new program at the college – a military college that would allow all officer cadets to spend two years in Saint-Jean before going to Kingston, instead of studying only in Kingston – is being considered. In the spirit of progress, would it be possible to support a principle as basic as the freedom of francophones in the military by establishing a CEGEP-style francophone bilingual military college."[30]

Concordia University announced on September 8, 2006, that Dallaire would sit as a senior fellow at the Montreal Institute for Genocide and Human Rights Studies (MIGS), a research centre based at the university's Faculty of Arts & Science.[31] Later that month, on September 29, 2006, he issued a statement urging the international community to be prepared to defend Baháʼís in Iran from possible atrocities.[32]

Dallaire has worked to bring understanding of post-traumatic stress disorder to the general public. His 2016 book, Waiting for First Light: My Ongoing Battle with PTSD, details his own struggles with this operational stress injury. He has been a visiting lecturer at several Canadian and American universities. He was a Fellow of the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy, Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. He pursued research on conflict resolution and the use of child soldiers. He published the book, They Fight Like Soldiers, They Die Like Children: the Global Quest to Eradicate the Use of Child Soldiers in 2010.[33] He has written several articles and chapters in publications on conflict resolution, humanitarian assistance and human rights.

In 2013, Senator Dallaire voiced his concern objecting to the 2014 budget closure of nine Veterans Affairs Canada (VAC) offices and the dismissal of 900 VAC staff as well CA$226 million of funding cut from the program. Early in Dallaire's post military career he was tasked by the Department of National Defense (DND), to create a program that will support the rehabilitation needs of former military personnel.[34]

Dallaire is a supporter of the Campaign for the Establishment of a United Nations Parliamentary Assembly, an organization which advocates for democratic reformation of the United Nations.[35]

On December 3, 2013, Dallaire was in a car accident on Parliament Hill, Ottawa. His car, a black BMW, hit a lamp post before it was stopped. Dallaire said he had fallen asleep at the wheel due to stress. His vehicle's air bag deployed and there were no casualties.[36]

Roméo Dallaire speaks at the Kansas City Public Library in 2018 at the request of the United Nations Association of Greater Kansas City, on behalf of the Roméo Dallaire Child Soldiers Initiative.

Dallaire resigned from the Senate on June 17, 2014, seven years prior to reaching mandatory retirement. He decided to leave the Senate in order to spend more time public speaking, to do research on and due to his own struggles with post-traumatic stress disorder, due to his frustration with the ongoing Canadian Senate expenses scandal,[37] and to devote the majority of his time on the issue of eradicating the use of child soldiers through his Roméo Dallaire Child Soldiers Initiative.[38]

The Lion, the Fox, and the Eagle: a story of generals and justice in Rwanda and Yugoslavia by Carol Off.[42]

A Problem from Hell: America and the Age of Genocide by Samantha Power. In a 2004 opinion article published by The New York Times, Dallaire called upon NATO to intervene militarily alongside African Union troops to abort the genocide in Darfur. He concluded that, "having called what is happening in Darfur genocide and having vowed to stop it, it is time for the West to keep its word as well."[43]