In 2003 , retired Canadian General Roméo Dallaire , who was force commander of the United Nations Assistance Mission for Rwanda , claimed that Annan was overly passive in his response to the imminent genocide . In his book '' Shake Hands with the Devil : The Failure of Humanity in Rwanda '' ( 2003 ) , Dallaire asserted that Annan held back UN troops from intervening to settle the conflict , and from providing more logistical and material support . Dallaire claimed that Annan failed to provide responses to his repeated faxes asking for access to a weapons depository ; such weapons could have helped Dallaire defend the endangered Tutsis . In 2004 , ten years after the genocide in which an estimated 800,000 people were killed , Annan said , " I could and should have done more to sound the alarm and rally support . " In his book '' Interventions : A Life in War and Peace '' , Annan again argued that the United Nations Department of Peacekeeping Operations could have made better use of the media to raise awareness of the violence in Rwanda and put pressure on governments to provide the troops necessary for an intervention . Annan explained that the events in Somalia and the collapse of the UNOSOM II mission fostered a hesitation among UN Member states to approve robust peacekeeping operations . As a result , when the UNAMIR mission was approved just days after the battle , the resulting force lacked the troop levels , resources and mandate to operate effectively
violence in Rwanda
Rwandan genocide
Kofi Annan