“DAS Bushnell Tells Col. Bagosora to Stop the Killings”, April 29, 1994

The US and the Genocide in Rwanda 1994 Evidence of Inaction State Department officials at the working level contacted Rwandan officials regularly to urge an end to the killing—to little effect. In this cable, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for... More

The US and the Genocide in Rwanda 1994 Evidence of Inaction State Department officials at the working level contacted Rwandan officials regularly to urge an end to the killing—to little effect. In this cable, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Prudence Bushnell challenges Col. Theoneste Bagosora, cabinet director in Rwanda’s Ministry of Defense and the coordinator of the genocide, as to who is responsible for the massacres. Ironically, his call for a cease-fire echoes the US call for the same, albeit for very different reasons. The telegram also highlights the US government’s pre-occupation with returning to a “peace process”, when much of Rwanda is littered with corpses. Less