TANZANIA: FORMER UN COMMANDER SPEAKS ABOUT HIS RWANDA TESTIMONY

Описание: (27 Feb 1998) Eng/French/Nat
The former commander of U-N peacekeepers in Rwanda has been speaking about how his testimony at the International Tribunal for Rwanda brought back the memories of the slaughter of more than 500 thousand people four years ago.
General Romeo Dallaire dabbed a tissue at his tear-filled eyes on Wednesday as he told the tribunal in Tanzania of his inability to stop the slaughter.
The Canadian commander was giving evidence in the trial of a Rwandan charged with the deaths of more than 2 thousand Tutsis.
Dallaire commanded the U-N peacekeeping mission in Rwanda from October 1993 until August 1994.
He was sent there to implement a peace accord, but instead witnessed a genocide planned by Hutu extremists against minority Tutsis and some moderate Hutus.
On Wednesday he was the witness in the trial of Jean-Paul Akayesu, who is charged with the deaths of more than 2 thousand Tutsis.
When his trial began 13 months ago, 44 year old Akayesu, former mayor of the central Rwandan town of Taba, pleaded innocent to 12 charges of genocide, crimes against humanity, murder, rape and torture.
Speaking the day after giving testimony, General Dallaire said it had been an unpleasant experience that had brought back all the awful memories of the massacre.
He said there was no joy in reliving those experiences.
SOUNDBITE: (English)
"In fact at one point yesterday I had the sense of the smell of the slaughter in my nose and I don't know how it appeared but there was all of a sudden this enormous rush to my brain and to my senses and that is not an easy task."
SUPER CAPTION: General Romeo Dallaire
The stench of decaying flesh wafted over Rwanda for months after the massacres began in April 1994.
Dallaire said he was "terribly disappointed" when attorneys advised him to cancel plans to visit neighbouring Rwanda because prosecutors want him to testify in future cases.
In his testimony on Wednesday, the general said hundreds of thousands of lives would have been spared if world leaders had responded to his pleas for more trained men, better equipment and greater powers.
His men faced a constant battle against well-organised underground movements.
SOUNDBITE: (French)
"The Interehamwe was a very active group, very dynamic, it was often deployed in uniform which made them a very obvious presence."
SUPER CAPTION: General Romeo Dallaire
Dallaire told the three-judge panel that he was unable to properly respond when unidentified assailants shot down Rwandan President Juvenal Habyarimana's plane with two missiles, touching off the bloodbath.
At the time, Dallaire had 2-and-a-half-thousand soldiers; the Tutsi rebels who have since taken control of Rwanda had an estimated 13-thousand and the former Hutu government had 25-thousand.
SOUNDBITE: (English)
"If the training in certain conditions had been to the levels required we would have avoided probably some frustrating encounters and also provided a higher level of security and deterrence to those who were not willing to go along with the peace agreement."
SUPER CAPTION: General Romeo Dallaire
The strongest U-N contingent was a 450 member Belgian battalion.
Hutu troops killed 10 of them on April 7, 1994, and within days, Belgium withdrew its forces.
On April 21, as the killing raged, the United Nations reduced Dallaire's force to 270.
General Dallaire urged the United Nations to prevent future slaughters by developing the ability to respond rapidly to crises.

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