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The U.S. and the Genocide in Rwanda 1994 The Assassination of the Presidents and the Beginning of the "Apocalypse" U.S. Department of State, Executive Secretariat, "Situation Report No. 6; Situation as of 1630 EDT, 04/08/94", April 8, 1994 (Freedom of Information Act...   [More]

The U.S. and the Genocide in Rwanda 1994

The Assassination of the Presidents and the Beginning of the "Apocalypse"

U.S. Department of State, Executive Secretariat, "Situation Report No. 6; Situation as of 1630 EDT, 04/08/94", April 8, 1994 (Freedom of Information Act release)

By the close of April 8th, the situation was bad and getting worse in Rwanda, Western nations wanted out, and they acted decisively. This Rwanda task force situation report notes "the Belgian government has decided to evacuate its citizens", but is still "willing to keep their UNAMIR troops in Rwanda after the planned evacuation", while "the French have agreed to take control of the airport". This report also describes White House involvement in the crisis, recording "NSC has given approval to State and DoD to plan for a joint U.S.-Belgium-France operation to evacuate our respective nationals." It also reports that the Belgian Prime Minister and the UN Secretary General want to "strengthen" UNAMIR at least with "equipment and/or firepower" if not "with more troops". Instead, a week after the UN force finished assisting the evacuations by Western nations, the UN Security Council voted to gut the force and leave Rwanda to its fate.
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