A People Betrayed

Following thirty years of research, including research into recently declassified government archives, this newly revised and expanded edition of Linda Melvern’s classic of investigative journalism reveals how policymakers continue to refuse to properly acknowledge their responsibilities under international law. The new edition includes copious new material reckoning with the information that came to light during the 2022 trial of Félicien Kabuga, the alleged financier of the genocide. This new evidence feeds not only into a revised chronology and a wholly new section on the build-up to the genocide, but also into a new appendix that lists the six major genocide memorial sites in Rwanda along with now-incontrovertible details of the massacres that occurred there.

Throughout it all, Melvern reveals in unmatched detail the scale, speed, and intensity of the unfolding genocide, and she exposes the Western governments and individuals who could have prevented what was happening if only they had chosen to act. What emerges is a shocking indictment of how Rwanda was ignored in 1994 and of how it is misremembered in the West today—an indictment that renders all the more poignant Melvern's accounts of the unrecognised heroism of those who stayed on during the violence, from volunteer peacekeepers to NGO workers.

Melvern offers a vivid picture of the role of Western nations in abetting, ignoring and allowing Rwanda's genocide. Praise for Previous Editions, New York Times Book Review
Linda Melvern has written a compelling description of the most dramatic aspects of the genocide. Praise for Previous Editions, Astri Suhrke, International Affairs
This is a devastating account of lies, deceit, complacency and tragic neglect.... Linda Melvern deserves our thanks for investing so much in breaking the silence and revealing the truth. Praise for Previous Editions, Glenys Kinnock, MEP
An important book by an important investigative journalist. Linda Melvern gets us closer to the truth and the truth gets us closer to a better world. Only when we know how and why genocide happens, can we hope to stop it from happening again. What an achievement! Praise for Previous Editions, Linda Polman, author of We Did Nothing: Why the Truth Doesn't Always Come Out When the UN Goes In
The best overall account of the background to the genocide, and the failure to prevent it...the investigation is hers, and hers alone. She discovered so much that we did not know. Praise for Previous Editions, Lt-.General Romeo Dallaire, UN Assistance Mission for Rwanda
Melvern has written an extraordinary account of the Rwanda genocide, and the shocking failure of the West to lift a finger. A brave and compelling book. Praise for Previous Editions, Richard Falk, Princeton University
A People Betrayed is a masterly and insightful reference for our understanding of international obligations in the prevention of genocide. William Schabas, Middlesex University London
[A] magisterial study of the genocide. This book provides meticulously researched detail on the complicity of the international community. Independent Catholic News

Linda Melvern has written regularly for the British press, and was previously a reporter for the The Sunday Times. For 20 years she has investigated and written about the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. A consultant to the Military One prosecution team at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), her archive of documents on the planning and preparation of the genocide was a part of the documentary evidence used by the prosecution. She is an Honorary Professor in the Department of International Politics at the University of Wales, Aberystwyth.

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