As I understand it, a lot of Clinton's reluctance is seen as a direct consequence of US led UN missions in Somalia the year before the genocide.

After the failure of the UN observation and relief mission, UNOSOM I to actually halt violence, a beefier US-led mission UNOSOM II was proposed on March 1993. US forces quickly began to butt heads with a rebel leader, Mohamed Aidid, that was seen by them as an impediment to peace. This began a manhunt that culminated in Operation Gothic Serpent, and the perhaps more notable Battle of Mogadishu.

In this event, a small raid on October 3rd, intending to capture a couple of Aidid's top men ended in disaster. 2 helicopters shot down, 17 US troops killed and 73 wounded. 5 days later Clinton announced a time line for US troops to pull out, no later than March of 94.

Now compare this to the starting date of the events of the genocide, April 6th. It is also worthwhile to remember, that while all the signs were there regarding the looming massacres, the event that sparked things off was quite a violent, unexpected one - the instigators still unknown.

On this day, a plane carrying Rwandan President Juvénal Habyarimana and Burundian President Cyprien Ntaryamira was shot down as it came in to land at Kigali, the Rwandan capital. Within hours, the months of planning allowed stashes of machetes and other weaponry to be handed out to trained Interahamwe militias, and Hutu supremacist figures launched their grab for power. Moderate figures, anyone with a mind to halt the events were executed first. Radio stations, previously playing months of dehumanising propaganda kicked into overdrive with a message of revolutionary rebirth of the nation - through extermination of those labelled inhuman. Within only 100 days, it was over.

The paltry UN force there to oversee the ceasefire between the Tutsi rebel forces of Paul Kagame and the RPF (Rwandan Peoples Front - Tutsi rebels) and the Habyarimana regime could do little to intervene, despite valiant effort. The US were not the only nation loath to get involved, either prior to or during the genocide. The peacekeeping force was almost set up to fail, and once the situation got out of hand (and surrendered UN Belgian troops were executed by militiamen), most nations contributing troops were lobbying for the removal of the force. The actions of the French government were particularly troubling, due to their cosy stance towards the Habyarimana government. Nonetheless, it was not the inaction of Americans alone that allowed this to happen. Nearly every country involved committed their forces and the vast majority of their efforts to seeing their civilians, embassy staff and troops pulled out of the country. Many shameful acts occurred, Rwandan citizen co-workers of embassy staff refused safe passage, unarmed groups of civilians, women and children handed over by peacekeeping troops to waiting militias, known to be the instigators of the slaughter.

So it came down to the RPF to stop their peoples' genocide themselves, and they swept into power. The international community turned away, ashamed. Violence was set to continue, both within Rwanda and across in Zaire, where many refugees fled. The stage was set for the further horror of the Congolese wars, and the international lack of reaction to Rwanda led only to more paralysis as the first steps of the 'African world war' began. Crucially, this shame, this failure to prevent massacre stymied any response to RPF/RPA (Rwandan Peoples Army - the new Kagame governments army) aggression that was leading directly to the coming war. The cold war was over, the first attempts at a 'new order' of humanitarian intervention had failed, and for a few crucial years, Africa was on its own.

Sources: G. Prunier,

The Rwanda Crisis: History of a Genocide, Columbia University Press, 1995, ISBN 0-231-10408-1

From Genocide to Continental War: The "Congolese" Conflict and the Crisis of Contemporary Africa, C. Hurst & Co., 2009, ISBN 1-85065-523-5

Also worth a look-in is writing by Romeo Dallaire, leader of the ill-fated and hamstrung UN force in Rwanda at that time. Sorry if this is disjointed and hard to read, I've never done it before. Ping me if you want more specific info, especially about the Congo, as that's actually the book I am reading at the moment !