The Economist eulogizes Alison Des Forges, a tireless campaigner against the Rwandan genocide.
She made calls, sent faxes and frantically gathered information. By April 17th she was convinced that a full-blown genocide was under way. She was one of the first outsiders to say so. But everyone who mattered ignored her.
Africa specialists at the State Department wept with her when she described what was going on, but who listens to Africa specialists?
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As an Africa specialist at USAID, I can confirm: no one listens.
What a perfect eulogy.
Because of Des Forges’s pressure on the government and the press, I knew there was a genocide going on as a sixteen-year-old high school student in 1994. The Clinton administration’s claims of ignorance of the extent of the killings never cease to amaze me. And the loss of Des Forges is still almost impossible to comprehend.