Global Policy Forum

By Maxim Kniazkov

The US government came under fire on Tuesday over its stance during Rwanda's 1994 mass killings following the release of declassified official documents showing Washington anticipated events now seen as among the most gruesome atrocities of the late 20th century.

"The US response was literally running away from any responsibility," said Salih Booker, director of the Africa Policy Center. He was reacting to documents, released on Monday by the National Security Archive, showing that as bloodthirsty Hutu militias fanned out across Rwanda, US diplomats advocated "an orderly withdrawal" of the Rwanda-based UN force known as UNAMIR that some believe could have helped protect civilians. According to Booker, the documents belie the claim made at the time that the administration of former president Bill Clinton was unaware of the scale of the killings.

"This report makes clear that the US was aware, but decided not only not to stop genocide, but also to prevent others from intervening in a way that could have saved hundreds or thousands of lives," he added. "No one had the political will to act," said William Ferrogiaro, project director of the National Security Archives, an independent research agency. "There were advocates for an initiative but bureaucratic infighting slowed the US response to the genocide." "US officials knew exactly who was leading the genocide, and actually spoke with leaders to urge an end to violence," said Ferrogiaro.

In fact, the deaths of US soldiers the year before in Somalia and difficult interventions in Haiti and Bosnia dissuaded the Clinton administration from doing more, Ferrogiaro said. US State Department representative Philip Reeker said on Tuesday the priority at the time had been protecting US citizens. "In the midst of this massive tragedy, our first response was to try and sort through the chaos and confusion to protect American citizens."

But he said it was important the international community "seek to learn lessons from the events in Rwanda in 1994." Offering to refer reporters back to statements made by Clinton in 1998, Reeker added that, "we fully recognise that what engulfed Rwanda at that time was, in fact — as the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda has since determined, was genocide."

The killing rampage was triggered by the April 6, 1994, death of Rwandan Hutu President Juvenal Habyarimana in a suspicious plane crash blamed by many Hutu on ethnic Tutsi. Within hours of the crash, according to witnesses, extremist Hutu militias backed by elements of the armed forces set up roadblocks and barricades in preparation for the 100-day massacre that would eventually take the lives of as many as 800 000 Tutsi and moderate Hutu. The US Defence Department knew about these activities, the newly released documents show.

In a memorandum to undersecretary of defence Frank Wisner dated April 11, 1994, a Pentagon official noted that "unless both sides can be convinced to return to the peace process, a massive (hundreds of thousands of deaths) bloodbath will ensue that would likely spill over into Burundi." But just three days later, the State Department instructed the US mission at the United Nations to work toward a withdrawal of the UNAMIR mission. The "department believes that there is insufficient justification to retain a UN peacekeeping presence in Rwanda and that the international community must give highest priority to full, orderly withdrawal of all UNAMIR personnel as soon as possible," the confidential cable said. The UN Security Council voted April 21, 1994, to pull out the troops.

Even as images of mutilated bodies began appearing on television screens, US officials were loath to classify the killings as genocide for fear it would compel the United States to intervene, the documents indicated. The Pentagon also shot down a proposal to use US electronic jamming planes to silence Hutu hate radio broadcasts inciting further killings.

There was no immediate reaction to the documents' release from the Pentagon.

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