In 1994 a group of Australian UN peacekeepers, made up of
soldiers and army medical personnel, was sent to Rwanda
under a United Nations mandate to help restore order to
the war-torn country. These Australians would be exposed
to a lack of humanity they were not prepared for and
found hard to fathom.
On 22nd April 1995, the daily horror and tragedy they had
witnessed escalated out of control. At a displaced
persons' camp in Kibeho, in full view of the Australian
soldiers, over 4,000 unarmed men, women and children died
in a hail of bullets, grenades and machete blades at the
hands of the Rwandan Patriotic Army. Constrained by the
UN peacekeeping Rules of Engagement, these Australians
could only watch helplessly and try to assist the wounded
under the gaze of the trigger-happy killers.
Pure Massacre is a record of what happened during this
peacekeeping mission. Kevin "Irish" O'Halloran, a Platoon
Sergeant at the time, stresses the weaknesses of the UN
charter and what happens when "good men do nothing". He
pulls together the perspectives of those Australian
soldiers who served in Rwanda at this time. Pure Massacre
gives a new and personal voice to the Kibeho Massacre.
It takes a special type of bravery, discipline and
compassion to do what these soldiers did. Little did they
know, when the second tour of Rwanda was over, that they
would be the highest decorated UN peacekeeping contingent
since the Korean War. For many, their service in Rwanda
would come with a personal toll. No Australians died
during and immediately after the massacre at Kibeho, but
as Pure Massacre testifies, the suffering and tragedy is
embedded in their memories.
