Dallaire testifies at Montreal genocide trial (Rwanda genocide)

MONTREAL - Former general Romeo Dallaire gave a chilling account Tuesday of how roadblocks popped up like mushrooms and served only to pick out and murder Tutsis in the 1994 Rwandan massacre.

Dallaire testified at the Canadian war crimes trial of former Toronto resident Desire Munyaneza how the roadblocks run by government-backed militia served no military purpose.

"It was simply there as a tool of ethnic cleansing," Dallaire testified in Quebec Superior Court.

"There was no military or technical value," he said. "it was purely to destroy human beings."

Munyaneza is charged with genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes in the Butare region of Rwanda.

While Dallaire and Munyaneza never appeared to cross paths, prosecutors must establish Munyaneza took part in a "widespread or systematic attack" directed at a particular ethnic group to prove genocide and crimes against humanity, according to the untested 2000 Canadian war crimes law.

Several witnesses earlier in the trial described Munyaneza as a ground-level leader in a militia group that raped and murdered dozens.

Dallaire testified how rape and murder spread across the country, perpetrated by members of the Interahamwe militia, a unit of which several other witnesses said Munyaneza was a leader.

He described finding stacks of half-burnt Tutsi-only identity cards at the scene of massacres, pointing to the ethnic motivation behind the countrywide attacks.

Dallaire said hundreds of Tutsis would be allowed to seek refuge in churches, where they would be penned in and slaughtered - sometimes over several days.

Dallaire, who suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder from his days in charge of the UN effort, recalled confronting a Rwandan Hutu miltiary commander over the roadblocks.

The barricades, often separated by only a few dozen metres, were often moved after bodies were stacked too high, Dallaire said.

Early in the slaughter, Dallaire says he confronted Col. Theoneste Bagosora over the roadblocks but got no response.

Bagosora was later identified as a leader of the massacres and is awaiting a verdict in his own war crimes trial in Arusha, Tanzania.

Dallaire described how he he "saw, smelled, touched, moved, stepped over" thousands of bodies during the 100 days of killing in the spring of 1994.

It's a story Dallaire has repeated hundreds of times in speeches, interviews, books and movies.

Dallaire, now a senator, spoke clearly and forcefully in his first genocide testimony in a Canadian criminal court but appeared to tire and slouch slightly as the day went on.

His lawyer and several supporters sat in the front row, keeping a close eye on him for signs of fatigue.

When court wrapped for the day, Dallaire paused to rub his right temple before strolling out.

Dallaire takes medication and is in therapy to deal with the psychological fallout of the mission, which led to several suicide attempts.

During a break to take a cup of tea, Dallaire encountered several well-wishers in the courthouse cafeteria. One man asked for an autograph in his copy of Dallaire's book, "Shake Hands with The Devil."

In the witness stand, Dallaire described how banditry, riot and assassination were increasingly common in Kigali until March 1994, when a lull seemed to inexplicably descend on the capital.

He went on leave March 10 and returned three weeks later to find the situation had gone severely downhill.

"Things were worse, people interested in reconciliation were being assassinated, we were hearing about more and more arms caches."

The massacres began on April 6, 1994, when Rwandan president Juvenal Habyarimana died after his plane was apparently shot down.

Within hours, 10 Belgian troops Dallaire dispatched to protect the prime minister were dead. Days later, 450 Belgian troops were hastily withdrawn.

Dallaire described how his peacekeeping force of 2,100, with troops and police from 26 countries, was hastily assembled and poorly equipped.

The Belgians were his only experienced, well-equipped soldiers, he said, when he needed a force of trained troops who were able to sustain themselves for two months.

"The first question the Bangladeshis asked was, 'Where do we eat?' " he testified.

Once trouble started in April, the Bangladeshis were ordered to stay in camp, Dallaire said.

"When hostilities resumed in April (1994) the Ghanaian's equipment was still on a ship," Dallaire said. "They didn't even have a vehicle."

Between 800,000 and one million Tutsis and moderate Hutus were killed by Hutu extremists in the genocide.

I just saw “Beyond the Gates”, a movie about the Rwanda genocide. One of the best I’ve ever seen. Watch it if you get a chance...

I just hope it doesn’t do anything to change your opinion of the UN...(sarcasm)

Thanks for the tip on “Beyond The Gates”.
If I can trust www.imdb.com, it appears to have an alternate title
of “Shooting Dogs”
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0420901/

I also recommend “Sometimes In April”, which I saw on KCET, the PBS
“superstation” in Los Angeles a few years ago.

It was pretty good. And yes, the UN AND The Clinton Administration
did NOT cover themselves in glory.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0400063/

AND, the PBS “FrontLine” epsisode “Ghosts of Rwanda” was actually
very good. IIRC, it does detail the courage of a number of UN troops
that stood their ground to protect innocents, despite mortal danger.
And it detained the life-saving work of American church-aid worker,
Carl Wilkens...after Clinton had all the American delegation bug
out of Kigali.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/ghosts/

Interviews list
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/ghosts/interviews/

Interview with Carl Wilkens
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/ghosts/interviews/wilkens.html

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