Hotel Rwanda

After spending a couple of months living and working in Rwanda, I feel I have an affinity with the country. I've read a dozen or so books about the country and the genocide. This is an important and timely film.

The genocide killed the best part of a million people, all due to an extreme racism on the part of the ruling Hutu regime. The murders occurred over a three month period and happened at a rate several times faster than the Holocaust. The film repeatedly points out how the world was not ignorant of what was going on, and made a clear decision to not act, despite the clear moral and legal case under the 1948 UN genocide convention.

There's an article (I disagree with), that discusses the film here, in which the author argues that the film gets the moral case wrong. I think the author is unaware of the history of the genocide, and specifically the US's role in preventing the UN from acting.

It is well worth seeing the film, and if you are interested in gaining some background knowledge theres a whole list of resources here, also some more contempory information here.

The best book on the subject is We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will be Killed With Our Families by Philip Gourevitch. Gourevitch is a great author, and really sets out the whole story well. The one problem with his book is his deification of the now President Paul Kagame. Kagame may have done some great things in bringing the genocide to a close, but he is far from saintly.

Another great book is Fergal Keane's Season of Blood. This provides clear hiostorical background, as well as some excellent first person narrative. His work has won the Orwell prize for non-fiction writing.