The Triumph of Evil (1999)

Plot Summary

"The Triumph of Evil" is a vivid and revealing report on how the 1994 Rwanda genocide could have been prevented. Drawing on dramatic footage, previously confidential cables and interviews with U.N. and U.S. officials, FRONTLINE investigates how months earlier the U.S. and U.N. had been warned by a key Rwandan informant about the coming slaughter. Despite the warning, the West didn't try to prevent it. And once the genocide started, didn't try to halt it. In candid, on-the-record interviews U.S. officials detail how the U.S. held many inter-agency meetings and struggled with a response to the slaughter. In the end, the Clinton administration hesitated to act because of the so-called Somalia Syndrome; a few months earlier a U.N./U.S. peacekeeping mission in Somalia ended with the deaths of 18 U.S. Rangers. The Clinton administration didn't want to be dragged into another African quagmire.

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