'You can't forget'

The book launch for They Fight Like Soldiers, They Die Like Children takes place Tuesday, Oct. 26, 7 p.m. in Ondaatje Hall, Marion McCain Building.

The cover photograph of Romeo Dallaire’s new book rips at the heart. The photo, taken in Liberia in 2003, shows a boy holding a gun sideways, lifting the scope to his eye. He’s crouched on the ground, one foot tucked under his body as he takes aim – at you.

And then you realize, as you unlock your gaze from the boy’s, that he’s wearing a pink teddy bear backpack – the kind of backpack that kids in Halifax use to carry their granola bars and juice packs for daycare or play dates.

“It is the most stark contrast that you’ll ever see: the tough kid with the weapon in his hands with the pink teddy bear on his back,” says Lieutenant General Romeo Dallaire (retired). “It’s the two extremes, the paradox of children forced into being warriors.”

Renowned for speaking out about the Rwanda genocide—and the failure of the international community to stop the carnage—Lt. Gen. Dallaire wrote about what happened when the killing spree was unleashed in 1994 and 800,000 people were murdered in 100 days. He has referred to the writing of Shake Hands with the Devil as therapy, even though the devils nearly wrestled him down. He continues to struggle with post-traumatic stress disorder.

If Shake Hands with the Devil was therapy, Lt. Gen. Dallaire regards the writing of They Fight Like Soldiers, They Die Like Children as his duty. After retiring from the armed forces, with whom he served 37 years, he says he was in need of a new vocation. In 2004-2005, he spent the academic year as a fellow at Harvard University’s Carr Center for Human Rights Policy and directed research into the problem of child soldiers. With child soldiers, he found his calling.

“When you haven’t experienced it yourself, you can say, ‘Oh jeez, that’s a problem,’” Lt. Gen. Dallaire says, speaking by phone in the back of a cab on his way to the airport. The book launch for They Fight Like Soldiers, They Die Like Children takes place at Dalhousie, home of the Child Soldiers Initiative which he founded.

Lt.-Gen. Romeo Dallaire.

“But when you’ve met these kids and when you’ve locked eyes across the barrel of a gun and they’re drugged up and confused and sometimes hysterical, you can’t forget. It is impossible to be neutral and unengaged.”

In the book, Lt. Gen. Dallaire chronicles how children are routinely abducted from their families and are subjected to forcible confinement, torture, threats, rape, brainwashing, slavery starvation and drug addiction. It is estimated that 250,000 boys and girls are being used as soldiers in conflicts worldwide.

With the launch of his book, Lt. Gov. Dallaire is also initiating a new initiative called Zero Force. The idea is to make young people—high school students and undergraduates—aware of the global tragedy of child soldiers and get them to bring pressure to eradicate their use.

“These are their peers,” he says. “So we want them to be aware of what’s happening, to get them engaged and wield their influence. I believe these young people are a dynamic force who are underutilized in this country.”

Lieutenant General Romeo Dallaire (retired) will be at Dalhousie University for the launch of his new book, They Fight Like Soldiers, They Die Like Children. The event takes place Tuesday, Oct. 26, 7 p.m. in Ondaatje Hall, Marion McCain Building.