‘This book,’ notes Roméo Dallaire in his account of the 100 days of genocidal killing in Rwanda in 1994, ‘is long overdue, and I sincerely regret that I did not write it earlier.’ With the continuing massacres in Darfur, however, Shake Hands with the Devil could hardly be more timely.
Dallaire was a highly respected general in the Canadian army when he was appointed commander of the UN peacekeeping force in Rwanda in the summer of 1993. Born into a soldier family and passionate about all things military, this was his first active war command. He was delighted to be given it. Arrriving in Kigali on a misty August morning, he was charmed by the people, the light and the lush greenness of the countryside. He admired his colleagues and junior officers and was convinced that he would be able to help implement the new Arusha peace agreement. It would be a crowning moment in a highly satisfactory military life.
It has become customary to think of the genocide in Rwanda as a sudden catastrophe, triggered by the plane crash in which its president was killed.
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