Dear o sung wu,

Just realised I didn't furnish a link to the quote I used.

http://www.ntnews.com.au/news/northern-territory/australian-troops-remember-kibeho-massacre-in-rwanda/news-story/1c6be840029a30cb1be26b0f3b96242c

Hi (again) STEELEREDUX...

I apologise for any errors I may've made. I relied entirely on my own memory, and of course his memory, of those terrible events he had to witness, that precipitated his PTSD. He must have been among the 32 you mentioned.

Something that struck us, (the bulk of the group numbered eight of us including him, & it was monitored by a Psych nurse) all of us were Vietnam/Malaysian Vets, except for him. We all wondered how this bloke ended up in a PTSD Group, particularly as he was not someone involved in a declared war, yet he suffered with PTSD? It didn't take us long to realise why? Any and all contacts we'd had, were always dealt with, in the way we're trained.

These bloke, albeit ARA couldn't respond in the manner they were trained at all. They had to standby and witness these atrocities, while the UN apparently sat on their hands?

Hi STEELEREDUX...

I've just finished reading your extract thank you, and much of it rang true, especially the part where many Vietnam Vets considered Rwandan Veterans not to be true Veterans. Which of course is utter rubbish! I know which I'd prefer to face personally? Certainly not Rwanda.

Dear o sung wu,

It appears I was also incorrect when I said "their mandate was very clear, force to be used only for self protection". In the back of my mind I remembered the second UNAMIR into Rwanda which the Australians participated in did have stronger rules of engagement than the first.

So I've gone and looked it up and it appears the officer in charge could have ordered the men to fire under the UN directive but felt the risk to Australian personnel under his command was too great.

This is cited straight from the account on the Australian War Memorial website;

"In addition to the Australian troops, a company of Zambian peacekeepers was also in Kibeho when the massacre began. Under UNAMIR's mandate, the troops and peacekeepers could have intervened in the conflict but were seriously outnumbered by RPF and risked also being killed. Moreover, it would have been hard to fire without killing refugees. Hence, under the command of Lieutenant Steve Tilbrook, the Australian infantrymen did not open fire to defend the refugees - a situation the men found particularly distressing. A debriefing team was later sent to Rwanda to counsel the Australians who were present at the massacre. It was later argued that UN presence at Kibeho stopped the RPF from killing everyone in the camp and creating an even worse outcome."
http://www.awm.gov.au/collection/U60680

In this case it appears to be more about the lack of support, particularly from other countries who didn't want to get involved, which meant the Australians and Zambian troops were unable to respond more forcefully to the violence.

Thanks STEELEREDUX...

In other words a real stuff up with the result of many unnecessary killings taking place. Thanks mate. If we were to examine every species on earth, we are the only group who harbour malice in our hearts.

Here's an idea for a new thread ttbn,

Australia should follow Israel and US and leave UNESCO;
- Not for the Israel / Palestinian issue, but for the damage their educational system and agenda's doing to our nation.

US Withdraws From UNESCO
http://youtu.be/gXTPpMw7ew8