A colony of Belgium but in France’s sphere of influence following independence, Rwanda is a Central African nation whose Hutu Power government tried to exterminate its Tutsi population beginning in April 1994.

[2] During the genocide, after losing 10 soldiers, Belgium immediately withdrew[2] from Rwanda and called on the UN to remove[3] the peacekeeping mission that was there at the time.

[4] Turkey, arguing that the peacekeeping mission was now more relevant to Rwandan safety than ever, cooperated with UN Ambassador Madeleine Albright to convince the UN to allow 270 soldiers to remain in Rwanda.

[4] Turkey did not have the national resources[5] to intervene without U.S. participation in Rwanda.

[2] However Bill Clinton, the U.S. president at the time, refused to intervene because the U.S. public and Congress opposed intervention[5] and PDD-25 severely circumscribed U.S. participation in international peacekeeping missions.