A true canadian hero

In the wake of the Kony 2012 campaign that went viral a few months ago, it made me remind that it’s simple to appear as a hero by appealing to people’s emotions and using outdated facts, while in reality those people don’t do much to change the situation of child soldiers in Africa. For me, a true example of a Canadian hero that dedicated his whole life towards peace and ending the use of children as soldiers fighting in governmental and rebel armies is Senator Roméo Dallaire.

On one hand, I think it’s good that an organization such as Invisible Children helped spread the word about a gruesome psychopath killer that ruins the childhood of thousands of people in Africa. On the other hand, I find it pretty sad that this problem has been around for almost thirty years and that people and media barely made an effort to mention it and that people now act that they care about problems in Africa just by watching a simple video.

So people now seem to know a lot more about the Kony 2012 campaign then they do about the heroic work of the Hounourable Roméo Dallaire.

Mr. Dallaire was sent to Rwanda to monitor the respect of the Ashura Accords during the Rwandan Civil War. However, he had witnessed the contrabands of war weapons and even after sending a telegram to the UN, he got the order not to seize those weapons. Mr. Dallaire had to stay in Rwanda, seeing 800 000 to a million Tutsis and moderate Hutus get massacred by the most horrific ways, while also being outnumbered by rebel forces since the UN refused to send more troops. Even UN officers got killed during the genocide but that didn’t stop Roméo Dallaire from protecting areas where he knew Tutsis were hiding and it is estimated that he saved approximatively  30 000 lives while risking his own every dayé.

Two years ago, I heard about his book that came out, They fight like soldiers, they die like children but I’ve only red it recently. Instead of watching a 30minute video that just seems to appeal emotionally for funds, which don’t seem accountable for, people should read this book and realize the huge number of atrocities committed by armies that recruited child soldiers. Being a lieutenant-general on the field in Africa and having been in the army for over 35 years, I think Senator Dallaire is a lot more qualified than anyone from Invisible Children could ever claim.  He also exposes how UN forces are sometimes forced to kill child soldiers and how armies then often use those children as psychological weapons to make their opponents hesitate before firing. In his book, not only does he expose how children are drugged and abused to serve the sick purpose of some armies but he proposes concrete solutions to eradicate this sad phenomenon. He explains as well the difficulties of reintegrating a child soldier to a normal life and the saddening realities of children being judged in their home country for crimes they were coerced to commit. I strongly recommend reading this book, even if it’s not easy to read emotionally. People need to know the concrete reality that’s behind these horrible phenomena.

Likewise, an article in the Toronto Star (http://www.thestar.com/news/world/article/1168534--child-soldiers-romeo-dallaire-s-wrenching-return-to-africa-s-gang-warfare) described how Dallaire is returning to Congo to negotiate the transfer of child soldiers so they can live normal lives again. It really heathens my heart to see the possibility of a second life for these children, thanks to Mr. Dallaire that is still dedicating his time to fight for the welfare of these children so they can grow up like a normal human beings and not like a human killing machine. He is even helping the reconciliation of two people that were part of two belligerent factions that were killing each other just says ago.

For those interested in helping Roméo Dallaire’s cause, you should visit the Child Soldier Initative website’s (http://childsoldiersinitiative.org/) and know that a true Canadian hero is still protecting the basic human rights of oppressed children overseas.

Picture taken from the Indigo website