Complicity with Evil: The United Nations in the Age of Modern Genocide

349 Pages·2006·11.47 MB·English

by  Adam LeBor

“Complicity with Evil”
by the same author
A Heart Turned East:
Among the Muslims ofEurope and America
Hitler’s Secret Bankers:
The Myth ofSwiss Neutrality During the Holocaust
Seduced by Hitler:
The Choices ofa Nation and the Ethics ofSurvival
Milosevic: A Biography
City ofOranges:
Arabs and Jews in Jaffa
“Complicity
with Evil”
The United Nations in the
Age of Modern Genocide
Adam LeBor
Yale University Press New Haven & London
Copyright © 2006by Adam LeBor.
All rights reserved.
This book may not be reproduced,in whole or in part,including illustrations,
in any form (beyond that copying permitted by Sections 107and108ofthe U.S.
Copyright Law and except by reviewers for the public press),without written
permission from the publishers.
Set in Minion Roman type by Integrated Publishing Solutions.
Printed in the United States ofAmerica by R.R.Donnelley,Harrisburg,
Virginia.
Library ofCongress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
LeBor,Adam.
“Complicity with evil”:the United Nations in the age ofmodern genocide/
Adam LeBor.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN-13: 978-0-300-11171-2 (cloth :alk.paper)
ISBN-10: 0-300-11171-1(cloth :alk.paper)
1.United Nations. 2.United Nations.Secretariat. 3.Genocide. 4.Security,
International. I.Title. II.Title:United Nations in the age ofmodern genocide.
JZ4971.L43 2006
341.23—dc22 2006017319
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
The paper in this book meets the guidelines for permanence and durability of
the Committee on Production Guidelines for Book Longevity ofthe Council
on Library Resources.
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
in memoriam
.
Zydowska Organizacja Bojowa
.
Zydowski Zwi≤zek Wojskowy
Warsaw Ghetto,
January–May1943
No failure did more to damage the standing and credibility of
United Nations peacekeeping in the 1990s than its reluctance
to distinguish victim from aggressor.
—Executive summary of the United Nations 2000report on
its peacekeeping operations
Contents
Preface ix
Acknowledgments xv
List ofAbbreviations xviii
Introduction 1
Part I
one A Safe Area 23
two Master Drafters 44
three Countdown 71
four The Fall 92
five Recently Disturbed Earth 112
viii Contents
Part II
six Silence in the Secretariat 135
seven A Rwandan Reprise 157
eight Genocide,or Maybe Not 182
nine A Will and a Way 204
ten A Meager Reckoning 229
eleven Command Responsibility 254
Appendix 281
Notes 291
Select Bibliography 301
Index 307
Preface
This book takes its title,“Complicity with Evil,”from the United
Nations’report on its peacekeeping operations during the 1990s,
published in August 2000. The report was commissioned by
Secretary General KofiAnnan,who convened a high-level panel
ofdiplomats,military officers,and humanitarian officials with
experience of UN operations in crisis zones.The authors pro-
posed new approaches for peacekeeping after the failures in
Srebrenica and Rwanda,so as to confront the challenges ofthe
post–Cold War world of conflicts fought by rogue states and
anarchic militias.The report’s fifty-four pages contain a series
ofdetailed recommendations about the conduct offuture op-
erations,and an outline ofinstitutional and attitudinal changes
needed within member states, the Security Council, and the
Secretariat—the permanent body of UN officials—to make
peacekeeping more dynamic and effective.Probably the docu-
ment’s most important sentence is contained in its executive
summary:“Impartiality for United Nations operations must
therefore mean adherence to the principles of the Charter:
where one party clearly and incontrovertibly is violating its
terms,continued equal treatment of the parties by the United