
Conspiracy to Murder
The Rwandan Genocide
Linda Melvern(Author)
Verso Books (Publisher)
Published on 17. April 2004
Book
Hardback
360 pages
978-1-85984-588-2 (ISBN)
Article exhausted; check for reprint
Description
In April 1994 up to a million people were slaughtered in Rwanda during a murderous campaign of horrifying efficiency.The ferocity of the killing and the cruelty inflicted on defenceless people has no comparison in modern times.
Conspiracy to Murder is the story of how that genocide was planned. It reveals how, from as early as 1990, the political, military and administrative leadership of Rwanda became involved in planning the complete extermination of the Tutsi population. A vicious hate campaign filled the media, urging Hutus to kill; a network of roadblocks was devised to prevent any escape; civil-defence groups were established throughout the country, with eventually every third Hutu being armed; half a million machetes and other agricultural tools were imported, and 85 tons of munitions were distributed country-wide, in the year leading up to the genocide.
In an outstanding example of investigative journalism, Linda Melvern reveals the full story behind the conspiracy, detailing the involvement of world governments whose responses ranged from complicity to apathy. She shows how the killers outmanoeuvred the Security Council and led UN peacekeepers into a steady trap; how the French military trained the killers and how their 'humanitarian intervention' in June 1994 enabled many of those killers to escape justice; how the JOhn Major government ignored warnings and then proceeded to mislead the British Parliament about what was really happening; how the US is still withholding wiretap and satellite evidence showing that the genocide had begun; and how significant was the knowledge of then Secretary General Boutros Boutros-Ghali.
Conspiracy to Murder is the story of how that genocide was planned. It reveals how, from as early as 1990, the political, military and administrative leadership of Rwanda became involved in planning the complete extermination of the Tutsi population. A vicious hate campaign filled the media, urging Hutus to kill; a network of roadblocks was devised to prevent any escape; civil-defence groups were established throughout the country, with eventually every third Hutu being armed; half a million machetes and other agricultural tools were imported, and 85 tons of munitions were distributed country-wide, in the year leading up to the genocide.
In an outstanding example of investigative journalism, Linda Melvern reveals the full story behind the conspiracy, detailing the involvement of world governments whose responses ranged from complicity to apathy. She shows how the killers outmanoeuvred the Security Council and led UN peacekeepers into a steady trap; how the French military trained the killers and how their 'humanitarian intervention' in June 1994 enabled many of those killers to escape justice; how the JOhn Major government ignored warnings and then proceeded to mislead the British Parliament about what was really happening; how the US is still withholding wiretap and satellite evidence showing that the genocide had begun; and how significant was the knowledge of then Secretary General Boutros Boutros-Ghali.
Reviews / Votes
Linda Melvern's work on Rwanda is in the finest traditions of investigative journalism. Conspiracy to Murder: The Rwandan Genocide extends her previous book, A People Betrayed: the Role of the West in Rwanda's Genocide, a brilliant investigation into the tragedy for which the 'international community' was itself responsible. With testimony from witnesses and access to documents previously unseen, she tells an epic and shaming story of culpability and missed opportunities. -- John PilgerMore details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Dimensions
Height: 213 mm
Width: 163 mm
Thickness: 33 mm
Weight
667 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-85984-588-2 (9781859845882)
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Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
New editions

Book
04/2006
2nd Edition
Verso Books
€33.00
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Person
Linda Melvern is a British investigative journalist. For several years she worked for The Sunday Times (UK), and was recruited from the newsroom to join the investigative Insight Team. Since leaving newspapers she has written six books of non-fiction and has published in the British press and academic journals. For twenty-five years she has research and written extensively about the circumstances of the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. A consultant to the Military One prosecution team at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, part of her archive of documents was used to show the planning, the financing and progress of the crime. She is the author of A People Betrayed: The Role of the West in Rwanda's Genocide, and Conspiracy to Murder.