LogFAQs > #913199216

Impavid54 posted...

Honestly, this movie is proof that the United Nations is useless garbage that talks big game but does nothing in the end. It is also evidence that American intervention is a positive thing.

- Only, it was the American government that wanted UNAMIR run on a shoestring. Originally the US wanted a token UN force of no more than 500 peacekeepers in Rwanda. The Secretariat had to keep the ceiling on UNAMIR I's strength down to 2,548 troops instead of the 5,500 recommended as the "ideal" size, in order to get the mission proposal past US objections in the Security Council.

- It was the American government that voted (along with the other members of the Security Council, admittedly) on April 21, 1994 to evacuate almost all UNAMIR troops from Rwanda and leave behind only a token force of 270 men. It voted to do this in the midst of the genocide.

- It was the American goverment that refused to acknowledge that was happening in Rwanda was a genocide. It wasn't until June 10, when most of the killing was over, that Secretary of State Warren Christopher finally used the word "genocide". Even UN Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali had called it a "genocide" on May 4 in a Nightline broadcast, while the US government denied it.

- It was the American government that objected to the use of the word "genocide" during the Security Council debate on April 29, and insisted that the draft text of SC Resolution 918 be watered down by deleting the offending word. It wanted to wriggle out of the obligation to act as implied in Article I of the Genocide Convention of 1948.
---

texty bastard