Lake GS '74 equates Darfur to Rwanda

In coping with the current humanitarian crisis in Darfur, looking to the past — especially the recent history of Rwanda — may be the key to success, former adviser to President Clinton and Georgetown professor Anthony Lake GS '74 said during a lunch forum yesterday.

Lake, who has had a long career in foreign service and public policy, has drawn criticism about his role in shaping American foreign policy in the face of the 1994 Rwandan genocide.

As National Security Advisor under President Clinton from 1993 to 1997, Lake was closely associated with the administration's decision to refrain from military intervention to stop the genocide, during which about 800,000 people were killed.

"If there is one thing I could have a do-over [for]...it would be Rwanda," Lake said.

During the forum, Lake led a discussion about American foreign policy and international humanitarian intervention with a group of about 20 community members, faculty members, graduate students and undergraduates.

Lake's primary focus was on the current humanitarian situation in Darfur and its links to his prior experiences with the Rwandan genocide.

The U.S. government has called the violence in Darfur genocide, a term that carries potential international legal implications. Both the United Nations and the African Union have stopped short of referring to it as such, though the United Nations has called the conflict "the world's worst humanitarian crisis."

Responding to participants' questions about what had prevented the United States from getting involved in Rwanda over a decade ago, Lake cited the failure of the government to seriously consider the issue.

"It was, I would argue, a collective failure of the whole international community," he said. "The United States as a leader in the international community deserves more responsibility."

Lake emphasized the importance of using the lessons of Rwanda to guide future U.S. policy toward Africa.

"We learned that silence is disastrous on these issues," he said. "You only earn the right to be a critic of Rwanda if you will be involved now in Darfur and HIV/AIDS."

"I could go on and on and get very angry about this," he said, referring to the crisis in Darfur. "We have done nothing about this situation and it is shameful."

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Lake advocated aggressive measures to address the situation, including the intervention of a powerful international force. But, he said, he recognizes that there is resistance to this notion of military involvement in the crisis. It is "hard to convince a peace movement to use more warlike means in order to save lives," he said.

Speaking of his love for the African continent, Lake said the public is presented only with images of the region in crisis, creating a dangerous misconception in the eyes of the international community.

"Because of the nature of TV coverage of Africa ... what you see are the crises, and those are inevitably pictures of Africans starving and Africans killing each other," he said. "Africa is seen far too much by the American public as a humanitarian issue."

Lake's comments and the ensuing discussion met with a largely positive response from those in attendance.

"I thought he was really interesting," Noah Arjomand '09 said. "I agree with the problem that Africa is mostly seen as a humanitarian issue and that numbs us to what is important there. I liked his critique about inaction; I think that's really important."

Lake concluded the forum with a final message about the importance of a more aggressive response to current international humanitarian crises.

"After Iraq, appetite for humanitarian intervention is very low, but these people are dying," he said. "What's at stake here is not just those lives, but the authority of the Security Council and the question of our responsibility to protecting innocent civilians."