Galway Advertiser 2005/2005_03_03/GA_0303_E1_010.pdf 

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10 N E W S

Galway Advertiser

March 3 2005

Alt.com
BY JEFF O'CONNELL

When the devil broke loose
On April 6, 1994, Rwandan President Juvenal Habyarimana's personal plane was shot down as it returned to Rwanda from Tanzania, killing Habyariman. The president was being pressed to implement the power-sharing Arusha Accord his government had concluded with the rebel Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) in August 1993, which ended three years of bloody war. To do so, however, would mean the effective end of his 20-year, one-party rule over Rwandan politics and society. Rwanda was divided between two groups of people - the Hutus and the Tutsis. The Hutus controlled Rwanda and were unwilling to share power with the Tutsis, represented by Paul Kagame's RPF. The death of the president acted as the signal for Hutu extremists determined to ensure that the Tutsi section of the population was permanently excluded from the future of Rwanda. Within an hour of the plane crash, the Presidential Guard, elements of the Rwandan armed forces (FAR) and extremist militia (Interahamwe and Impuzamugambi) began the organized slaughter, starting in the capital Kigali, of more than 800,000 Rwandans - mainly members of the Tutsi people but also moderate Hutus - over a period of 100 days. Coincidentally, two accounts of the slaughter in Rwanda have appeared recently. One is the academy-award nominated Hotel Rwanda, which tells the amazing true story of a Hutu hotelier, Paul Rusesabagina, who managed to save more than 1,000 people from the rampaging extremists in his four-star hotel in the Rwandan capital of Kigali. The other is a powerful and painfully moving first-hand account of Rwanda's agony, Shake Hands with the Devil, by Canadian General Romeo Dallaire, Force Commander of the United Nations peacekeeping mission. It is a blistering account of how the international community shamefully failed to avert this tragedy. When Gen Dallaire arrived in Rwanda in 1993, he thought he was heading off on a modest and straightforward peacekeeping mission. Thirteen months later he flew home from Africa, a broken, disillusioned, and suicidal man. His book, while being meticulously detailed, is also a deeply personal document, a cross between a confession and an exorcism: "My story is not a strictly military account nor a clinical, academic study of the breakdown of Rwanda. It is not a simplistic indictment of the many failures of the UN as a force for peace in the world. It is not a story of heroes and villains, although such a work could easily be written. This book is a cri de coeur for the slaughtered thousands, a tribute to the souls hacked apart by machetes because of their supposed difference from those who sought to hang on to power. . . This book is the account of a few humans who were entrusted with the role of helping others taste the fruits of peace. Instead, we watched as the devil took control of paradise on earth and fed on the blood of the people we were supposed to protect." No one comes out well - in particular, neither the UN nor the US. As bodies filled the streets and rivers, the general, backed by a UN mandate that didn't even allow him to disarm the militias, pleaded with his superiors for additional troops, ammunition, and the authority to seize Hutu arms caches. The UN turned him down. He asked the US to block the Hutu radio transmissions. The Clinton administration refused to do even that, unwilling to get involved in Africa after its humiliating retreat from Somalia. If Dallaire's anger at his UN bosses who did too little is fierce, his fury at world leaders who feigned ignorance and did nothing is white hot. He is contemptuous, for example, of President Clinton who stopped for a few hours in Kigali in 1998, after it was all over, and said he was sorry; he didn't know. Or David Rawson, the US ambassador to Rwanda at the time of the mass murders, who waited a month before declaring a "state of disaster", and then dismissed the slaughter as "tribal killings". Despite overwhelming evidence of genocide (the US administration blocked efforts to designate what was happening as `genocide') and knowledge as to its perpetrators, United States officials decided against taking a role in confronting the slaughter in Rwanda. Rather, US officials confined themselves to public statements, diplomatic initiatives for a ceasefire, and attempts to contact both the interim government perpetrating the killing and the RPF. According to Gen Dalliere, "Africans don't count; Yugoslavians do. More people were killed, injured, internally displaced, and refugeed in 100 days in Rwanda than in the whole eight to nine years of the Yugoslavia campaign." Could it happen again? It is - in Darfur, where another huge humanitarian tragedy is taking place while the UN debates whether to call what's happening "genocide".. Gen Romeo Dallaire and a few thousand ill-equipped UN peacekeepers risked their lives to save thousands of innocent people from terrible slaughter. Dallaire is a haunted man who, despite his bravery and humanity, suffers because he believes he could have done more. It is a searing indictment of all those in the international community who did little or nothing that this good and decent man continues to carry this burden. Shake Hands with the Devil: The Failure of Humanity in Rwanda by Romeo Dallaire. Arrow pp580.

Salthill couple Brain injured charged with artists importing drugs are showcase remanded on bail
A couple living in Salthill, who are charged with importing cannabis resin into the country, were remanded on continuing bail when they appeared before Galway District Court this week. Suzanne Flood (24) and Alan Gormley (27), 30 Radhairc an Clar, Salthill, Galway, are charged with importing the cannabis on October 8 2004, contrary to Regulation 4 (1) of the Misuse of Drugs Regulations 1993. They are also charged with having the cannabis in their possession and having it for sale or supply to others on the same date. Inspector Tony O'Donnell told the court the DPP had directed the charges could be dealt with in the District Court and he estimated the street value of the drugs which are alleged to have been found in the couple's possession, at slightly under 7,000. Defence solicitor Sean Acton indicated to the court that the charges were not straightforward and he would need copies of the statements made to gardai. Judge Mary Fahy agreed to adjourn the matter to June 8 and ordered that all statements be made available to the defence.

their work
BY MARY O'CONNOR An art exhibition which opened this week in the Town Hall Theatre celebrates the creative talent of local artists who have survived brain injuries. Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs Eamon

Annual Creative Writing Competition for 5th & 6th classes
Please write an essay in no more than 700 words

`A healthy body is a healthy mind'
or

`I had an embarrassing moment when...'
or

`My cat has nine lives'
Winners Prize
An iPod plus 750 worth of books for the school library

2nd Prize
A micro-hi-fi plus 100 worth of books for the school library

3rd Prize
A discman plus 100 worth of books for the school library

Closing date for competition 5pm 15th April 2005
Winning essays will be published in the Galway Advertiser
For further details contact Vicky Carroll - Distribution Manager. 091 530935

O'Cuiv opened the event entitled "50-50 which runs until March 24. It features the work of clients at QUEST Brain Injury centre at the Liosban Industrial Estate. The organisation is funded by the Health Service Executive Western Area (formerly the Western Health Board) and is a Rehab project. The exhibition forms part of QUEST's commitment to the arts, explains Denise Donlon, its co-ordinator. Local artist Jim Kavanagh worked closely with clients supporting them as they explored their creative abilities using a wide range of media. "The art classes are a fun and important element in the process of helping people to rebuild their lives following an acquired brain injury. For many of our clients this was their first experience of using art as a means of exploring their creative side and expressing their thoughts and emotions." She says the exhibition's title was chosen by clients to reflect the fact that while their brain injury has impacted significantly on their lives they are still "100 per cent human beings" and have a valuable contribution to make to society. More than 900 people from the west sustain traumatic brain injuries each year. But despite the high figures, there has been a void in services for these people when they leave hospital, she says. "Many of those affected continue to suffer longterm problems, such as memory loss, concentration difficulties, communication problems, income loss, isolation and anxiety." She says QUEST addresses this gap by providing an innovative service that focuses on improving work-related, personal and social skills. "The aim of the service is to facilitate and support each client's fullest participation in society socially, economically, culturally and physically."

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