Ingvar Carlsson is Disappointed with the United Nations

Ingvar Carlsson’s disappointment with the UN was made clear in his speech at the Rwanda Forum. He claimed this disappointment to be painful since he´s always been a great supporter of the UN. The general issues discussed by Ingvar Carlsson were how the genocide in Rwanda could take place, and why it was not stopped by the UN. According to Carlsson, the Secretary General and the Security Council, as well as the broader membership of the UN are responsible for the main failures, before and during the genocide in Rwanda. Ingvar Carlsson asserts that there was a lack of political will to stop the genocide. A very serious mistake was the reduction of UNAMIR, of which the Security Council is to blame. Ingvar Carlsson also brought up the reluctance, of especially the U.S., to use the word “genocide” in the case of Rwanda. Since the use of this word involves an obligation to stop the killings it was avoided. A further reason to the world’s lack of interest of acting in the genocide i n Rwanda was due to the situation in Somalia. The actions there and the killing of peacekeepers led to an averseness against sending peacekeeping troops to Rwanda. Ingvar Carlsson’s major conclusion is that the UN should have realised that the original mandate was no longer adequate in a country were genocide was taking place. The lecture ended with some suggestions for the future, where Ingvar Carlsson highlights the importance of reacting at an early stage and to give peacekeepers the operational mandate they need.