Discussion questions on
Ghosts of Rwanda
Find a Rwanda timeline at http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/rwanda/timeline.html
Find a map at http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/rwanda/etc/map.html
Why were the UN Peacekeepers in Rwanda in 1993?
What arrangement had been made between the RPF (Tutsi) and the government (Hutu) as a
result of UN talks?
Share power
And UN forces’ role?
As the genocide began, what was the goal of the Hutu radicals toward the UN force?
Kill some peacekeepers to encourage Belgians and other UN forces to leave
Why didn’t Kofi Annan (then head of UN peacekeeping section) not allow Gen. Dallaire to
take a pre-emptive strike against the radicals (by raiding arms caches)?
Did not want another Mogadishu
What were the Clinton administration’s views? Its motives?
After the presidential plane was shot down, why didn’t the UN allow its forces to
take action?
How is it that the UN forces and US intelligence didn’t seem to know what was going to
happen? That even, to this day, they don’t know who shot down the presidential plane on
which President Habyarimana (Rwanda) and President Ntaryamira (Burundi) were killed?
What was the US response to the murder of Belgian peacekeepers and the beginning of the
genocide? Why?
Was Laura Lane (young US foreign service officer) right to want to stay and stand up
to the Hutu extremists?
What did UN forces do after the outbreak of the genocide?
Rescue foreigners
Why?
Why did the French and Belgians send paratroopers early in the conflict?
Why were none of these forces used to evacuate ordinary Rwandans?
NB: All Americans were evacuated in three days
How did journalists respond?
Why did the Belgians want to leave Rwanda? --both peacekeeping force and paratroopers
Why did US support the Belgian wish?
Why was the Red Cross director the only outsider to really stand up to the Hutu extremists?
What did the congressman who told Monique (the Rwandan activist who came to
Washington to lobby for intervention) that the “US has no friends, just interests” mean?
Anthony Lake (NSA) said Rwanda never became a serious issue for President Clinton and
himself. Why not?
How can senior administrators simply follow instructions in the face of a moral crisis like
this one? Consider the statements of Prudence Bushnell, U.S. deputy assistant secretary of
state for African affairs
What did the UN decision to not intervene (or further support the remaining peacekeepers)
mean for Gen. Dallaire? Contrast to Red Cross
What was the explanation for not intervening?
Not wanting to be involved in a civil war
The RPF did not want the UN there; why not?
How were safe sites secured?
How could the world really “not know”?
Once the UN decided to send 5,000 more troops, why were none sent?
Has anything changed since then? What about Darfur?
How could the Hutus do such a thing to the Tutsis?