More Reviews for A People Betrayed. The Role of the West in Rwanda's Genocide.

“For six years the author grappled with indifference, if not hostility, and had to pursue enquiries entirely on her own resources. "Another book on Rwanda? Don't we know it all already?" But Melvern shows clearly that the protracted civil war blinded almost everyone to the emerging genocide, though some did see the evidence which was available. I challenge anyone to read this book and not be startled by new revelations, not to feel a renewed sense of outrage and determination that it should not happen again.

Professor Falk of the Centre of International Studies at Princeton says the book is "quite extraordinary; precise and yet overwhelming". Dame Margaret Anstee calls it "a riveting and well-researched account ... with lessons for everyone". Glenys Kinnock calls it "a devastating account... it provides all of us who lobby and campaign... with valuable evidence." Colin Keating, who as New Zealand's UN representative was president of the Security Council during the critical month of April 1994, read extracts from the book at its launch in Wellington and from Melvern's earlier history of the UN (The Ultimate Crime), saying "to understand why things didn't happen which should have happened in 1994 you really need the wider perspective of the earlier book".

Melvern tells the story behind the stories: it is a meticulously researched account, fully indexed and with extensive references, which despite copious details is compellingly readable. Understanding is helped by excellent maps and a ten page chronology. Two appendices deal with the Genocide Convention and the book is dedicated to the memory of Raphael Lemkin who coined the term. Documents obtained during the investigation, including arms contracts, Security Council minutes and other unpublished materials, are to be placed in an archive at the University of Wales, Aberystwyth, where the author is an Honorary Fellow in the Department of International Politics."

Peter Greaves
New World. United Nations Association of the UK
April-June 2001

 

This is a very important book. It is a book that a large number of people should read... what is good about the book is that it shows the big picture. It shows the failure that actually took place. It tells the story of what really happened. An outstandingly good book... compelling... its content is exceptional.'

Colin Keating
Secretary for Justice, NZ
and former New Zealand Ambassador to the UN

 

Accessory to Murder? A British journalist examines the U.N.'s flawed mission in Rwanda. The U.N. Force Commander, General Dallaire had pleaded with the Security Council for troop reinforcements, supplies and the authority to protect civilians. None of these were forthcoming. The Rwandan people would become, in the words of Linda Melvern, ''a people betrayed.'' read review...

Samantha Power
The New York Times
February 2001

 

“her book is the most detail to have appeared… on events leading up to and including the genocide. This is an extremely uncomfortable book, particularly for those who believe in the UN system… Melvern writes with dispassion and restraint, but her anger is clear”. read review...

Jakkie Cilliers
Institute for Security Studies

 

A riveting and well-researched account of the horrendous crimes committed in Rwanda while an indifferent world, to its shame, looked the other way. There are grim lessons here for everyone, from international statesmen and politicians to responsible citizens and decent human beings everywhere'

Dame Margaret Anstee

 

Linda Melvern’s work on Rwanda is in the finest traditions of investigative journalism. A brilliant investigation into the tragedy for which the “international community” was itself responsible. With testimony from witnesses and access to documents previously unseen, she tells an epic and shaming story of culpability and missed opportunities.

John Pilger

 

What happened in Rwanda is one of the most appalling and heartbreaking tragedies that the world has known. Why did it occur? And what more could have been done to prevent it? Melvern's book attempts to answer those questions. It is a brave and compelling account of the lies, deceit, and neglect that led to the Rwanda genocide. A powerful and important book that vital provides lessons for the future.

Peace Times

 

"There is enough shame to cover the world map, and Melvern documents it all, including behind-closed-doors meetings of the Security Council whose permanent members characterized the conflict as a civil war so they could rationalize not taking action to stop the genocide. It should be absolutely required reading for anyone who has anything to do with foreign policy or international institutions." read review...

Terree Bowers
California Committee South Former Prosecutor with the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda

 

 

“In July 1994, just as the slaughter in Rwanda was dying down, Linda Melvern, a former Sunday Times investigative reporter and author of several book, began mounting (an) inquiry…over the next six years she built up contacts in the Rwandan capital, Kigali, within the UN Security Council, amongst those who had served in the failed peacekeeping force, and those who had suffered in the slaughter. Helped by secret documents from Rwanda and the UN, she managed to identify those who had helped supply arms, those who had suppressed information about what was happening, those who turned a blind eye to murder. The book that resulted was not just an expose of those terrible events, it was an indictment of the world order that had failed to prevent them”.

Magnus Linklater
Scotland on Sunday, January 28, 2001

 

“As Linda Melvern’s devastating account of the Rwandan genocide shows, the nature of the killing was plain to see.. it is a chilling revelation of the political realities behind the “human rights” rhetoric of the Western powers … Melvern gives a clear headed account of Rwanda’s history. The lasting value of Melvern’s work lies in her unrelenting focus on the networks of complicity behind the genocide and her refusal to treat the horrifying statistics as an incomprehensible anomaly or aberration. It is little surprise that Melvern’s fine book, carefully researched, lucidly written, moderately expressed, should nevertheless have been completely ignored by the press of the country in which it has been published….For if her book is a singularly courageous interrogation of the past, it also has a tragic contemporary resonance; the scars and the consequences of the genocide are still there, metastases of a cancer of hatred and violence that is still spreading through Central Africa” read review...

Colette Braeckman
New Left Review May/June 2001

 

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