Stephen Green links to a great read about a book concerning Rwanda:

To the major powers of the outside world, Rwanda was of little interest. It has no oil, no strategic importance. Its only major exports are tea and coffee. As one analyst said, “There’s nothing here except humans, so it’s not worth the risk.”

“The risk of what?” Dallaire demands. “Professional soldiers coming in and helping? Diplomats? Aid organizations? So what is worth it?”

Many more people died in Rwanda than in the turmoil in the former Yugoslavia. In Rwanda, “I couldn’t keep 400 troops on the ground. Tens and tens of thousands of troops, billions of dollars” were committed to Yugoslavia, “but nothing in Rwanda.”

The question, Dallaire says, is “Why is there that difference?” Is it because Yugoslavia was an ally of today’s most powerful nations in World War II? Because people in western countries have family there? Because Yugoslavians are European? Because they’re white? Or “because Africans in Africa who kill themselves are considered the norm?

“We taught them the barbarism,” Dallaire says, so “why is it they don’t count? Are all humans human, or are some more human than others? Do some count more than others?”

Clearly, the major powers currently have little stomach for putting their soldiers in harm’s way when there is no clear evidence of a threat to their own well-being.

Great questions. Why did we not assist in stopping this genocide?