Former US President Bill Clinton has said that the mistake he most regrets making during his presidency was his failure to push for intervention in Rwanda. Kofi Annan, who was then UN Under-Secretary-General for Peace-Keeping Operations, described the situation at the UN at the time as a “terrible and humiliating” paralysis.
但是，从另一个方面讲，安理会的这项决议并不令人满意。利比亚的现状可谓是一次考验：在保护人民不受统治者鱼肉这个问题上，国际社会是否会动真格？这个问题由来已久，但其现代形式之滥觞要追溯到1994年干预卢旺达种族灭行径绝的惨痛失败。联合国的事后调查指出，当时只要派遣2 500名训练有素的士兵，就能阻止800 000名图西族人遭到屠杀。