Ghosts of Rwanda
When the UN deploys a peacekeeping force to the small central African country with the full backing of the US government, most policymakers involved believe it will be an immediate mission that will help restore the UN’s reputation damaged by failures in Bosnia and Somalia . Few could have imagined that ten years later, Rwanda would still be a crisis haunting their souls.
Ghosts of Rwanda, a two-hour special commemorating the 10th anniversary of the Rwandan genocide — a state-sponsored massacre in which some 800,000 Rwandans were systematically murdered by Hutu extremists when the United States and the international community refused to intervene Hunted and Killed – explores the social, political, and diplomatic blunders that made genocide possible.
“From the perspective of time, the Rwandan crisis can be seen as an important test of the international system and its values - a clash between the ideals of humanity and the cold logic of realism and national interest,” said Frontline producer Greg Barker .
Through interviews with key government officials, diplomats, soldiers and survivors of the Holocaust, Ghosts of Rwanda presents a groundbreaking first-hand account of the genocide from those who saw it firsthand: diplomats on the ground who thought they were making peace just to Seeing it saw their peers murdered; Tutsi survivors recounted horrific experiences of witnessing their friends and family members massacred by Hutu friends and colleagues; and UN peacekeepers in Rwanda who were ordered not to Intervene in the carnage that is happening around them.
The documentary features interviews with Canadian General Romeo Dallaire, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, former UN Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali and former National Security Adviser Anthony Lake, along with haunting interviews with Hutu killers themselves and a powerful interview with BBC reporter Fergal Keane, who traveled through Rwanda as the genocide drew to a close.
