Shake Hands with the Devil (book)

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Shake Hands with the Devil
LC Class
DT450.435 .D35 2003

Shake Hands with the Devil: The Failure of Humanity in Rwanda is a book by

Canadian Forces, with help from Major Brent Beardsley. It was first published by Random House Canada
in September 2003.

Roméo Dallaire signing Shake Hands with the Devil

The book chronicles Dallaire's tour as Force Commander of the

1994 Genocide Against Tutsi
.

The book won the 2003

Shaughnessy Cohen Award for Political Writing, and 2004 Governor General's Award
for nonfiction.

The edition published in French is entitled J'ai serré la main du diable: La faillite de l'humanité au Rwanda.

The documentary film Shake Hands with the Devil: The Journey of Roméo Dallaire (2004) and a 2007 dramatic feature film are inspired by and in part based on the book. Dallaire was consulted in the making of both films.

Summary

More than 800,000 people are believed to have been killed in 100 days in the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. Lt. Gen. Roméo Dallaire witnessed these massacres. In Shake Hands with the Devil, he describes the dilemmas and atrocities to which he was exposed.

In the book Dallaire explains how, after arriving in

UN high authorities that he lacked sufficient equipment and manpower to carry out his mission. However, a lack of clarity in the UN's intervention procedures coupled with the international community
's apparent lack of interest in Rwanda meant that Dallaire's calls for help went unanswered.

From day to day the situation deteriorates until eventually the general's forces are left on their own, without fuel, money or adequate equipment. Meanwhile, encouraged by the ethnic hate propaganda of the

machetes
begin piling up and many of the moderate politicians with whom Dallaire had the mandate to negotiate with are also murdered.

External links
Awards
Preceded by
Paris 1919: Six Months That Changed the World
Governor General's Award for English language non-fiction recipient
2004
 Succeeded by
The Golden Spruce: A True Story of Myth, Madness and Greed
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