General Romeo Dallaire to Receive Elie Wiesel Award

Today, I continue my 100 day series remembering the twentieth anniversary of Rwandan genocide. Please join me in prayer for those lives lost and impacted in this tragedy. #NeverAgain. LMH

Tonight at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Canadian Senator and retired General Roméo Dallaire will be presented with the Elie Wiesel Award. From the museum’s website:

Join the Museum in conferring its highest honor, the Elie Wiesel Award, on General Romeo Dallaire for his valiant attempts to warn the world and prevent the 1994 Rwandan genocide. As commander of the international peacekeeping force in Rwanda, General Dallaire did his utmost to warn the United Nations of the potential outbreak of large-scale ethnic violence. Even when his warnings went unheeded, he refused to give in to international apathy. He continually called for the use of force, and although unable to stop the atrocities, he and his unit nevertheless managed to protect more than 30,000 lives. For the past 20 years, General Dallaire has been an outspoken advocate for genocide prevention.

For those whose only frame of reference with General Dallaire is the movie “Hotel Rwanda”, you’ll find this 2011 piece from the Huffington Post on the topic of that movie to be edifying reading.