Today in History -- Rwanda Genocide Begins

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Today, in 1994 the genocide in Rwanda began. Playing in racial hatreds hyped in the media, the Hutus began massacring the Tutsi. Moderate Hutus were also killed as "collaborators." When it was over more than 800,000 people were dead in a little more than a month. The US wanted to act, but France stated it was their area of interest and to stay out of it. France, of course, failed to do anything. The officer in charge of the UN peacekeeping forces did not have enough personnel to do the job. He did have a plan to protect the people with the personnel he did have. Both his request to execute this plan, or to have more personnel sent were denied by the UN. A War Crimes Tribunal was convened. Those directly involved were tried. The UN community was never tried for its failures to protect the people of Rwanda. Seeing the current failures of action in Darfur and Tibet and Myanmar, it seems we have learned nothing from Rwanda.