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Dinner Keynote
Seminar Title
Leadership - Challenges and Rewards
Dinner, re-scheduled for April 19
LOCATION: Hotel Saskatchewan - Regency Ballroom
Cocktails: 5:30
Dinner: 6:00
Volunteer Recognition: 7:00
Introduction: 7:15
Keynote: 7:30
Presenter
Lt. Gen. Romeo Dallaire
Synopsis
The 1994 Rwandan genocide introduced a whole new level of horror to the international community. Since its inception, the United Nations had never faced a humanitarian tragedy of such magnitude. The speed of the killing was five times greater than that of the Nazis at the height of the Holocaust.
Prior to this atrocity Lieutenant-General Roméo Dallaire was leading a UN Assistance Mission in Rwanda (UNAMIR). Dallaire was acutely aware that the signs emerging in early 1994 threatened impending genocide. He swiftly informed his command at the UN, alerting decision-makers to the gravity of the situation. The resources required to halt the genocide however, were never provided.
Despite the lack of support and the limitations of his force, Dallaire exerted untiring personal and professional efforts to protect and save those he could. Dallaire was asked to leave Rwanda on three occasions and chose to stay along with a volunteer force formally under UN command in order to preserve human life. His personal actions, and those of the men he led, stand out as a powerful illustration of human courage and moral conviction. Had Dallaire fulfilled his military commitment he could have chosen to leave the country, understandably blaming circumstances for the lack of results.
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