The World Abandoned Us-Gen Romeo Dallaire

Romeo Dallaire could be forgiven if he wanted nothing more to do with civil wars in Africa. The general had a front-row seat at one of the worst genocides of the 20th century, when close to a million people were slaughtered in 100 days of fighting in Rwanda in 1994.

“The world abandoned us,” he says today. “I have never seen my loyalty taxed to such an extent.”

Dallaire’s story – and Rwanda’s, of course – has been told before. Films include the 2004 documentary Shake Hands with the Devil and a 2007 drama of the same name, starring Roy Dupuis as the embattled, embittered Dallaire.

Fight Like Soldiers, Die Like Children catches up with Dallaire today. Now 66 and retired, he still carries himself like a soldier, and he still commands respect. He understands firsthand the complexities and paradoxes of warfare. “The adrenalin rush of combat … is stronger than sex,” he says.

Dallaire is back on the ground in Africa to try to prevent the use of child soldiers, a practice he declares as abhorrent as nuclear war. “If we could make them cry as a child again, I would think they would want to get rid of the weapon and not play real-life soldier any more,” he says in one of the film’s more bittersweet moments.

But Dallaire is not aiming to cure the problem with whimsy. He sits down with warlords – that “shake hands” remark will follow him forever – to discuss the problem.”It’s not just a crime against humanity; it’s a sin,” he says, and counsels sanity, amnesty, anything to prevent more children being trained to kill and be killed in war.

The scope of the problem becomes clear when one realizes the extent of lawlessness, corruption and anarchy in parts of the continent. In the First World, a serial killer or lone bomber can create unrest, even panic. Imagine many more bad guys, and far fewer police.

The 83-minute film, which also played at the recent Hot Docs film festival in Toronto, was directed by Patrick Reed, a researcher and producer on the documentary Shake Hands. He keeps a respectful distance, letting Dallaire roll up his sleeves and get to work.

The general has no illusions about being able to solve this problem single-handedly, any more than he was able to stem the flow of blood in 1994. But he feels that with continued effort, by himself and others, a solution will be found. It may take 40 years, or 60. “Anything below decades is a waste of rations,” he says, ever the strategist.

“We’re not just letting it happen,” he says later. And while he’s still at the front line, he knows he won’t be forever. Someone else will have to carry this flame eventually, but it’s not going out on his watch.

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