The Rwandan genocide once again proved that men are worse than beasts. What a pity that ethnicity did not yield to nationhood. Instead of mourning the assassination of President of Rwanda together with the President of Brunei the night began with 100 days of terror and sadistic killing in full view of the world with hate propaganda fuelled by the media.

What happened in Rwanda was the result of a long history of neo-colonial policy. The Hutu-Tutsi relationship was turned into a class system. The minority Tutsi (14%) were favoured over Hutu (85%) and both Rwanda and Burundi were governed by two Tutsi monarchs and the Tutsis were given privileges and western style education . A further divide was created by the introduction of ethnic identity cards differentiating Hutus from Tutsis.

A decade after, one needs to reflect on what went wrong. Had the Security Council acted differently, the genocide could have been prevented. Due to the UN mandate, its forces stood as silent spectators as the killings took place. The UN stands for human rights, for freedom, for justice, for peace and when the passionate voices call in distress in the midst of a tragedy, the UN must respond to save human lives, no matter how formidable the challenge.