There were not many countries in the United Nations that were interested in sending peacekeeping troops to Rwanda, even before the genocide started. France was an ally of the Hutu-led government, and did not want to fight it. The United States had just had soldiers tortured and killed in Somalia a year before, and did not want to get into another fight in Africa." Also, many countries thought there was nothing in it for them if they helped Rwanda. Rwanda had no important natural resources, like oil or gold, and it was tiny. It took five months to get United Nations member countries to offer enough soldiers for this mission.