New US plan to prevent genocide

Vowing to learn from horror in Rwanda, the United States Thursday unveiled a plan to prevent genocide, seeking to shake up a grinding bureaucracy which hampers a swift response to unfolding atrocities.


President Barack Obama ordered a review of US approaches to deter such mass crimes, established an Atrocities Prevention Board to alert top officials to developing crises and introduced a visa ban for those guilty of war crimes.


"Preventing mass atrocities and genocide is a core national security interest and a core moral responsibility of the United States of America," Obama said in a presidential study directive.


"America's reputation suffers, and our ability to bring about change is constrained, when we are seen as idle in the face of mass atrocities.


The driving force of the plan is a recognition that in the past, as in Rwanda 17 years ago, the US government missed chances to intervene early to prevent genocidal situations developing, a senior US official said.


"Governmental engagement on atrocities and genocide often arrives late, when opportunities for prevention or low-cost, low-risk action have been missed," the official said.


"By the time these issues command the attention of senior policymakers, the menu of options can shrink considerably and the costs of action can rise."


The official cited the example of Rwanda, where a rising tide of hate, discrimination against ethnic Tutsis and the arming of Hutus was documented by diplomats, the UN and rights activists but spurred little action.


But the knowledge did not percolate all of the highest levels of the US government and Washington and its allies did not plan sufficiently how to prevent killings or respond to atrocities.


 "As a result, it took many weeks for the genocide in Rwanda to command high-level attention and for the consideration of policy options that could have saved thousands of lives at minimal cost," the official said.


The White House conceived the plan to offer a president faced with unfolding genocide more options than simply an agonizing choice of either sending in the US military or doing nothing.


Obama ordered a 100-day review of economic, diplomatic and other policy tools that could be used to predict mass atrocities and to launch preventative action short of deploying military force.


Human rights groups, activists and former senior government officials welcomed the initiative.


"This directive has the potential to save countless lives in the future," said Tom Bernstein, chairman of the US Holocaust Memorial Council.


"Tragically, during the Holocaust, no such mechanisms existed, and in the many decades since then, the United States and other governments have lacked the policies, structures and political will to prevent such unspeakable crimes from being committed again."


Former secretary of state Madeleine Albright and former defense secretary William Cohen, who chaired a Genocide Prevention task force, also welcomed the plan as an "unprecedented commitment."


"This is a forward-thinking plan that if fully implemented should eventually save countless lives," they said.


The plan comes at a time when Washington is part of an international effort to protect civilians in Libya from Moamer Kadhafi's forces.


Obama partly justified the leading US role at the start of the Libya operation, which has now become a support mission for NATO allies waging the fight on the frontlines, as vital to preventing a massacre.


In April, Obama marked the 17th anniversary of the "unimaginable slaughter" of Rwanda's genocide, saying it reminded the world of its duties to civilians in places like Libya.


Around 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus died in the 1994 Rwanda genocide, according to United Nations estimates, in an episode that stained the consciences of Western nations.