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| REVIEWS | BY PETER GRUNER |
 The official memorial site dedicated to the victims of genocide in the village of Ntarama, Rwanda, where 5,000 people were killed in April 1994 (Reuters photo)  Linda Melvern  A starving refugee flees the turmoil in western Sudan this year |
The Conspiracy to Murder: The Rwandan Genocide by Linda Melvern, Verso, £16 THE world stood up and declared it must never happen again after a million civilians were horrifically murdered by an opposing African tribe 10 years ago. Today, on the 10th anniversary of the Rwandan tragedy, similar atrocities are not only happening in The Sudan, but international leaders are again turning a blind eye to the slaughter and deprivation of thousands of innocent people. Former Sunday Times Insight journalist Linda Melvern’s new book, Conspiracy to Murder: The Rwanda Genocide, could not be more topical, detailing how the world stood by in April 1994 and watched 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus shot or hacked to death over a period of months. And this week, speaking about the current crisis in The Sudan, she called for the United Nations to stop prevaricating and impose economic sanctions on that country in a bid to stop the bloodshed. She says the UN, originally set up in 1945 in the wake of the holocaust for the prime purpose of rescuing desperate people caught up in bloody wars, has proved to be impotent in the face of a second Rwanda. It is using the same dramatic language as last time and once again, because countries can’t agree on a course of action, doing almost nothing. The UN calls the murder and dispossession of the black Sudanese the “greatest humanitarian calamity currently facing the world”. That’s what it said about Rwanda and despite being aware of the build up did nothing about the massacre until it was all too late. Much of Melvern’s anger is directed at the international community, particularly the UN and the major powers, rather than at the “front line killers”. Melvern, who gave evidence to an international tribunal investigating the Rwandan atrocity, says the failure to act there was one of the greatest scandals of the 20th century. “The feebleness of the UN and world leaders like America’s former president Clinton and Britain’s former prime minister Major signalled to the conspirators that they had little to fear from the outside world,” she said. She points out the frightening parallels between Rwanda and The Sudan. Then, as now, the murderous campaign was cooked up by a rival tribe as a kind of ethnic cleansing with the connivance of the government. Men, women and children were systematically murdered in their villages, which were then raised to the ground. Today, in the case of Darfur, western Sudan, which is about the size of France, at least 50,000 black Sudanese are believed to have been slaughtered, and a million driven from their homes by armed Arab Muslim militiamen. There are an estimated two million in urgent need of food, medicine and clean water. The US government’s Agency for International Development estimates another 350,000 could die in the next 10 months as a result of conflict, malnutrition and disease. Meanwhile, the Sudanese government in Khartoum plays for time as the killing continues. It exhibits only limited compliance with the UN while waiting for the international hubbub to die down. Melvern, of Albion Road, Stoke Newington, says the international community could, if it wanted, stop another Rwanda. “But countries like China will not agree to military intervention. Even if there was agreement I doubt if the UN would do anything,” she said. “There are various things that could be done. The UN Security Council could impose economic sanctions against The Sudan. We could stop buying Sudanese oil. “Amazingly, Sudan is a member of the UN Human Rights Commission. Somebody should be asking for them to be thrown off.” She says, at the very least, the UN should be able to direct aid agencies and charities to where many refugees are trapped, unable to get across the border into Chad and too afraid to seek help from the Sudanese-controlled refugee camps. “I would like to see more coverage of the issue in the media so people know what is going on. Iraq is still taking the majority of attention,” she said. Melvern admits that despite the brow beating over Rwanda, none of the lessons appear to have been learned and history is beginning to repeat itself. “None of this could ever happen in Europe or America – there would be intervention, there would be sanctions but we seem to have a blind spot when it comes to Africa. “Or at least our world leaders do. We can’t stand idly by like we did in Rwanda. This time we must do something to stop the killing.” Melvern’s book on Rwanda includes a fulsome review by doyen of newspaper sleuths, John Pilger, who describes it as a “brilliant investigation into the tragedy for which the international community was itself responsible”. |
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