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Dallaire was born in 1946 in Holland to Staff-Sergeant Roméo Louis Dallaire, a Canadian non-commissioned officer, and Catherine Vermeassen, a Dutch nurse. He spent his childhood in Montréal.
He enrolled in the Canadian Army in 1964, as a cadet at Le Collège militaire royal de Saint-JeanDepartment of National Defence) Le College militaire royal de Saint-Jean (CMR) was a Canadian military academy located in Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Quebec. It had the same purpose as the Royal Military College of Canada (RMC) in Kingston, Ontario. CMR was. In 1969For other uses, see Number 1969. For the movie, see 1969 (movie). Events January January 1 Australian media baron Rupert Murdoch purchases the largest selling British Sunday newspaper The News Of The World January 5 The Derry Riots leave over 100 people i he graduated from the Royal Military CollegeThe Royal Military College can refer to: Royal Military College of Canada in Kingston, Ontario, Canada Royal Military College, Duntroon Royal Military College, Sandhurst. with a Bachelor of ScienceA Bachelor of Science B. or less commonly, S. is an undergraduate academic degree awarded for courses taken that generally last three years in England, Wales, Northern Ireland, Quebec, Singapore, Australia and New Zealand or four years in the rest of Nort degree. He has also attended the Canadian Land Forces Command and Staff College and the United States Marine CorpsThe United States Marine Corps USMC is the second-smallest of the five branches of the United States armed forces, with 170,000 active and 40,000 reserve Marines as of 2002. The United States Coast Guard is the smallest. The Marine Corps is nonetheless la Command and Staff College.
In 19891989 is a common year starting on Sunday (click on link for calendar). Events January January 7 Akihito becomes Emperor of Japan following the death of Hirohito. The Heisei period begins January 8 the Kegworth Air Disaster A British Midland Boeing 737 cra he was promoted to the rank of Brigadier-General.
In late 1993 Dallaire was assigned the position of Force Commander of UNAMIR. Rwanda had just endured several years of bloody civil war which had been concluded with the Arusha Accords, and UNAMIR's mandate was to supervise the peaceful transfer of power to the new Rwandan government.
After the situation in Rwanda deteriorated, Dallaire became aware of the genocide taking place and pleaded for reinforcements of 2000 soldiers for his Canadian contigent plus logistical support. The UN Security Council refused, several journalists laying blame on a gunshy Clinton administration who refused to provide requested material aid after the failed US efforts in Mogadishu, Somalia. The Security Council voted to reduce UNAMIR down to 260 men.
Following the Belgian forces' withdrawal after 10 soldiers were killed, Dallaire consolidated his contingent of Canadian, Ghanian, and Dutch soldiers in urban areas and focused on providing areas of 'safe control'. His actions are credited with directly saving the lives of 20,000 Tutsis. There is speculation that Dallaire's forces deliberately sabotaged equipment to slow their UN-mandated withdrawal from the combat zone.
As the massacre progressed, the UN Security Council backtracked on its position and voted to establish UNAMIR II with a strength of 5,500 men. Unfortunately this taskforce's inception was delayed due to logistical problems and bureacracy, and was not effective until early 1995.