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On the edge of horror

Broadcast Date: Sept. 29, 1997

WARNING: This clip features graphic images.
When Lt.-Gen. Roméo Dallaire arrives in the Rwandan capital of Kigali in October 1993 he has high hopes for what he believes will be a textbook case of international peacekeeping. But as he prepares to help broker a shaky peace, Hutu extremists are secretly putting the pieces in place for a widespread massacre of their hated rivals, the Tutsis.


This CBC Television documentary looks back at Dallaire's growing concern as grave warnings surface within a country that reporter Brian Stewart says is "on the very edge of unimaginable horror."

On the edge of horror

• After several unsuccessful attempts to get appointed as the commander of a UN peacekeeping force, Roméo Dallaire finally got the call from the Canadian military commander for Quebec on June 27, 1993. He recalls saying "Rwanda? That's somewhere in Africa, isn't it?"

• An overjoyed Dallaire was told that the six-month mission would be a classic peacekeeping operation and he would be expected to oversee Rwandan Patriotic Front movements between Uganda and Rwanda.

• He was also told that the United Nations Assistance Mission for Rwanda was a chance to mend Canada's peacekeeping reputation, which suffered after Canadian soldiers tortured and killed a teenaged boy in Somalia almost a year earlier.

• To learn more about Canada's peacekeeping mission in Somalia, see the CBC Archives topic "The Somalia Affair."


• Dallaire spent three months learning about Rwanda and in September 1993 read a UN Human Rights report that warned of planned killings in the country.

• Concerned, Dallaire drafted his own "Rules of Engagement" that would have allowed UNAMIR to take armed action if needed. The UN rejected his request, insisting that he was being sent to Rwanda to observe and "monitor the security situation."


• Dallaire arrived in Kigali, Rwanda, on Oct. 5, 1993, with a force of about 2,600 soldiers, cobbled together from Belgium and Haiti.

• Over the next three months Dallaire met with several members of the Hutu-led government, all of whom assured him that they were committed to the Arusha Accord. But at the same time UNAMIR was being given information that contradicted the government's stated position.


• One of the most shocking pieces of evidence came from a Hutu soldier who told Dallaire about an alleged plot within the government to methodically kill hundreds of thousands of Tutsis.

• The killings, which occurred sporadically in the lead-up to the genocide, were carried out by a special force called Interahamwe. The secret killing squad was made up of about 8,000 young Hutu extremists who were trained to carry out pogroms on Tutsi civilians.


• On Jan. 11, 1994, Dallaire sent a fax to UN headquarters that contained the ex-soldier's allegations, which included plans to kill Tutsis at a rate of up to 1,000 every 20 minutes.

• In that fax Dallaire also requested permission to act outside his mandate and raid alleged caches of weapons.

• As this clip recounts, the UN thought Dallaire was overreacting and rejected his plan.

• A UN report conducted several years after the genocide showed that President Habyarimana had used millions of dollars in international aid to stockpile thousands of machetes, axes, clubs, small knives and hoes to be used in the killings.

• To learn more about the early warning signs of genocide in Rwanda, see this additional clip.

On the edge of horror

Medium: Television

Program: The National Magazine

Broadcast Date: Sept. 29, 1997

Guest(s): Howard Adelman, Fred Eckhard

Host: Brian Stewart

Duration: 11:32

Interview with Roméo Dallaire courtesy Vision TV.

Last updated:
Nov. 12, 2010