Notes

Romeo Dallaire served as Force Commander of UNAMIR, the United Nations peacekeeping force for Rwanda between 1993 and 1994. Dallaire tried desperately to stop the genocide that was being waged by Hutu extremists against Tutsis and Hutu moderates.

On April 6, 1994, the Rwandan president’s plane was shot down. This set in motion the vicious genocide as extremists within the Hutu population began assassinating moderate government officials and ultimately claiming the lives of more than 800,000 Rwandan Tutsis and moderate Hutus within 100 days.

Amid this escalating violence, Dallaire stood his ground and faced a nearly impossible situation. His force shrunk from 2,500 soldiers to merely a few hundreds as nations withdrew their troops in the first days of the slaughter and the UN repeatedly refused to send reinforcements. Dallaire and his remaining forces remained, attempting to save as many people as they could while the massacre continue. Most of his efforts were to defend specific areas where he knew Tutsis would be hiding, resulting in directly saving the lives of 32,000 people of different races throughout the genocide.

That is why he is considered as a hero.