While it is underplayed in the obit, Boutros-Ghali was more than just saddened by the failure of the UN to act properly in the Rwandan genocide.
The real villain in that tragedy was Kofi Annan, Boutros-Ghali's successor as Secretary-General, then head of UN peacekeeping. One might add that the Clinton administration was complicit, if not active, in the resulting inaction.
According to exegetical notes to the cables at the time (January 11, 1994): "Dallaire urgently requested protection for an informant who outlined to him Hutu plans being made to exterminate Tutsis, to provoke and kill Belgian troops so as to guarantee Belgium's withdraw from Rwanda, and the location of Interhamwe arms caches. Everything Dallaire's informant told him came true 3 months later." "Dallaire was told the UN didn't agree with his plan to raid the arm caches and furthermore, he must inform the president of Rwanda what he had learned from the informant, even though it was the president's own inner circle that was planning the slaughter of Tutsis."
One of my favorite quotes of all time (and perhaps words to live by) is Boutros-Ghali's comment in 1993: "The only way to deal with bureaucrats is with stealth and sudden violence."
