Compiled as part of the Failure to Prevent initiative, these videos feature testimony from former leading officials and eyewitnesses to the genocide in Rwanda.
Monique Mujawamariya is a survivor of the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. Formerly a prominent human rights activist in Rwanda, she founded the Rwandan Association for the Defense of Human Rights and Public Liberties in 1990. After escaping from her country on April 13, 1994, she came to the United States, where she lobbied the United Nations, White House, and State Department to intervene and stop the genocide.
Lieutenant-General Roméo Dallaire (Retired) was the force commander of the United Nations Assistance Mission for Rwanda, or UNAMIR, in 1993 and 1994. When the genocide started, he had to do his best with the minimal amount of forces he was left with to save as many civilians as possible. Here he speaks about the importance of the conference and the challenges affecting peacekeeping today.
Ambassador Ibrahim Gambari was Nigeria’s ambassador to the UN Security Council in 1994 and became president of the Council in May 1994. In this video, he speaks about lessons learned from the Rwandan genocide, the internal politics within the Security Council, and how they can affect peacekeeping operations and their mandates.
Major-General Henry Anyidoho (Retired) served as the deputy force commander and chief of staff for the United Nations Assistance Mission for Rwanda (UNAMIR). He has also served in international peacekeeping operations in Lebanon, Liberia, Cambodia, and Darfur. Here he reflects on the lessons he learned from his time with UNAMIR.
Ambassador Prudence Bushnell was deputy assistant secretary of state for African affairs at the US State Department during the Rwandan genocide. In this video, she recounts calling Colonel Theoneste Bagosora, one of the lead genocidaires, to tell him to stop the killing.
Major Brent Beardsley served as the executive assistant to Lieutenant-General Roméo Dallaire, the head of the UN peacekeeping force in Rwanda during the genocide. Here he discusses the controversy surrounding the rules of engagement.
Georges Martres was the French ambassador to Rwanda from 1990 to 1993. During his time there, he had a sense that violence and massacres could reoccur but he was unable to imagine it could reach the scale that it did. In this video, he describes the overall political situation during his post and his feelings as he left Rwanda.
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Find information on historical cases of genocide and other atrocities.