Once the genocide started, UNAMIR ran into a serious problem. UNAMIR has to get its "mandate" (its powers, goals, and orders for a mission) from the United Nations Security Council. For this mission, UNAMIR's mandate did "not" include stopping the genocide or protecting civilians. At this time, UNAMIR soldiers were only allowed to shoot their weapons in self-defence, if somebody was attacking them personally. They were not allowed to use their weapons or get involved to protect civilians who were being attacked.