The Rwandan Genocide: Who Was Really To Blame? (Part Two)

Newly-released, declassified documents show senior US government officials were well-informed about the 1994 genocide in Rwanda --- even though they failed to use the word publicly to justify not intervening to halt the bloodshed. I filed this report on March 31st, 2004 – just ahead of the 10th anniversary of the start of the genocide.

Just two weeks after the start of the killings in Rwanda 10 years ago, senior Clinton administration policymakers were told by the Central Intelligence Agency that what was happening in the tiny Central African country was genocide.

The word appears in the CIA's April 23rd, 1994 National Intelligence Daily, a top secret intelligence summary delivered to senior US policymakers. Three days later, the State Department's Bureau of Intelligence and Research provided more detail. It noted some Hutu extremists were speaking of a "final solution" to eliminate all Tutsis. It went on to say, quoting now, "the butchery shows no sign of ending."

Despite this and other information flowing into Washington, the Clinton Administration waited until late May to publicly acknowledge that what it termed "acts of genocide" were taking place in Rwanda.

It took then Secretary of State Warren Christopher until early June 1994 to finally use the word "genocide."

Other declassified documents released by the independent National Security Archive of George Washington University show the administration deliberately sought to avoid using the word genocide. Officials feared, in the words of one declassified Pentagon paper, that it "could commit the US government to actually do something" under international law--- something the Clinton administration wanted to avoid.

Alison Des Forges is an authority on the 1994 Rwandan genocide with the organization, Human Rights Watch. She says the US position was inexcusable.

“A genocide should demand an investment of resources, a level of concern beyond other crises in the world.”

The administration felt it was militarily overextended elsewhere in the world and that there were no compelling American interests in Rwanda. It also wanted to avoid any repetition of the bloody experiences of US peacekeeping troops in Somalia.

The Clinton administration later apologized to the Rwandan people for its failure to do more. In 1998, President Clinton travelled to Kigali and met survivors of the genocide. He said the international community did not act quickly to prevent the massacres. Mr. Clinton also said the international community must bear its share of responsibility for the tragedy.

Note: Having seen the butchered bodies, at a time when US officials were still avoiding public use of the word “genocide,” I can tell you I was personally outraged. I agree with Ms. Des Forges that the position taken by the administration at the time was inexcusable.