“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