Rom¿Dallaire joined the Canadian Army in 1964. A three star General he served as Deputy
Commander of the Canadian Army and later in the Ministry of Defence. In 1993 he was sent to
Rwanda on a UN peace-helping mission he was soon struggling to prevent one of modern history's
most shocking events and the UN's famous failed mission: the genocide in Rwanda. General
Dallaire was medically released from the armed forces in April 2000 due to posttraumatic stress
disorder and is now special adviser to the Canadian government on war-affected children and the
prohibition of small arms distribution. In January 2002 he received the inaugural Aegis Award
for Genocide Prevention in London. The Rwandan genocide is one of the most shocking examples of
political exploitation and ethnic cleansing in living memory. It has been immortalised in the
films Hotel Rwanda and Shooting Dogs and here in the words of a seasoned soldier.
