Conspiracy to murder
Subtitle: the Rwandan genocide
By: Linda Melvern.
Publisher: Verso
Published: 2004
Place of publication: London; New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 358
Subjects: Genocide -- Rwanda -- History -- 20th century.; Tutsi (African people) -- Crimes against -- Rwanda -- History -- 20th century.; Hutu (African people) -- Rwanda -- Politics and government -- 20th century.; Rwanda -- Ethnic relations -- History -- 20th century.; Rwanda -- History -- Civil War, 1994 -- Atrocities.
Description: "In April 1994 up to a million people were slaughtered in Rwanda during a murderous campaign of horrifying efficiency. The ferocity of the killing and the cruelty inflicted on defenseless people has no comparison in modern times." "Conspiracy to Murder is the story of how that genocide was planned. It reveals how, from as early as 1990, the political, military ad administrative leadership of Rwanda became involved in planning the complete extermination of the Tutsi population. A vicious hate campaign filled the media, urging Hutus to kill; a network of roadblocks was devised to prevent any escape; civil-defence groups were established throughout the country, with eventually every third Hutu being armed; half a million machetes and other agricultural tools were imported, and 85 tons of munitions distributed country-wide, in the year leading up to the genocide." "In an outstanding example of investigative journalism, Linda Melvern reveals the full story behind the conspiracy, detailing the involvement of world governments whose responses ranged from complicity to apathy. She shows how the killers outmanoeuvred the Security Council and led UN peacekeepers into a deadly trap; how the French military trained the killers and how their "humanitarian intervention" in June 1994 enabled many of those killers to escape justice; how the John Major government ignored warnings and then proceeded to mislead to British Parliament about what was really happening; how the US is still withholding wiretap and satellite evidence showing that the genocide had begun; and how significant was the knowledge of the then Secretary General Boutros Boutros-Ghali."

"The author has had exclusive access to a wealth of fresh sources, including an extraordinary collection of documents abandoned by the conspirators when they fled Rwanda and a full confession from the prime minister in the government that presided over the genocide. Written especially for the tenth anniversary year, Conspiracy to Murder is a shocking indictment of those who knew what was happening and chose not to intervene. It makes the case for an urgent, enquiry into the scandalous behaviour of both the US and the UK in a crime that could and should have been prevented."--Jacket.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.