Rwanda: Remembering Genocide And A Hero

by hilzoy

Eleven years ago today, the Rwandan genocide started. (Actually, the plane carrying the presidents of Rwanda and Burundi crashed on April 6, 1994, and there was some killing that night; but April 7 was the first day of organized genocide.) About three months later, eight hundred thousand people were dead, mostly hacked to death with machetes. The best account of the genocide and the Clinton administration's shameful non-response is Samantha Powers' article Bystanders To Genocide.

Instead of writing about the genocide, I want to focus on Mbaye Diagne, a Senegalese military observer who was profiled in the excellent Frontline program Ghosts of Rwanda. His background was unremarkable: according to the profile on the Frontline site, "Capt. Mbaye, a devout Muslim, was one of nine children from a poor family on the outskirts of Dakar, Senegal's capital. He was the first in his family to go to college. After graduating from the University of Dakar, he joined the army and worked his way up through the ranks."

But what he did during the Rwandan genocide was extraordinary. Again, from Frontline:

""A real-life Cool Hand Luke…"

"The bravest of the brave…"

"...the greatest man I have ever known..."

These are the words of those who knew Capt. Mbaye Diagne, a young Senegalese army officer who served in Rwanda as an unarmed U.N. military observer. I have never heard another human being described in the way that those who knew Mbaye describe him: he was, as one of his colleagues told me, "the kind of guy you meet once in a lifetime."

He was a hero.

From literally the first hours of the genocide, Capt. Mbaye simply ignored the U.N.'s standing orders not to intervene, and single-handedly began saving lives. He rescued the children of the moderate Prime Minster Agathe Uwilingiyimana, after 25 well-armed Belgian and Ghanaian U.N. peacekeepers surrendered their weapons to Rwandan troops. The Rwandan troops killed Madame Agathe (and, later, ten Belgian peacekeepers), while the unarmed Capt. Mbaye -- acting on his own initiative -- hid the Prime Minister's children in a closet.

In the days and weeks that followed, Capt. Mbaye became a legend among U.N. forces in Kigali. He continued his solo rescue missions, and had an uncanny ability to charm his way past checkpoints full of killers. On one occasion he found a group of 25 Tutsis hiding in a house in Nyamirambo, a Kigali neighborhood that was particularly dangerous. Capt. Mbaye ferried the Tutsis to the U.N. headquarters in groups of five -- on each trip passing through 23 militia checkpoints with a Jeep-load of Tutsis. Somehow, he convinced the killers to let these Tutsis live."

Here's an interview with Gromo Alex, the head of the U.N. Humanitarian Assistance Team in Rwanda:

"Who was Mbaye Diagne and what was he doing?

He had access to most of the areas … the military or gendarme or presidential guard. He covered all the territory, knew most of the people in the command structure. But fairly early on, we could see in this back room in the Amahoro hotel [that] large groups of people all of a sudden appeared and [the] next day were gone. We began to put together that Mbaye was bringing people from all over to the headquarters and then evacuating them or having them picked up and taken to safety elsewhere. And I don't even know the numbers of the people that he saved. But a lot of people know who he is. A lot of people were saved by him, and not just Rwandans but famous journalists. I think they were put in positions where their lives were pretty close to an end, and he stepped in and saved them. (...)

But wasn't it against orders to go out and start saving people?

Yeah, it was against orders, and the orders were not to intervene in the conflict. Mbaye ignored those orders, and at the same time his general [Gen. Dallaire] knew what he was doing, never stopped him.

… I would think that the general saw him as some expression of what we were supposed to be doing. … But here's someone who stepped out of line and [the general is] not going to discipline him because he's doing the right thing. And he saved at least hundreds of people. And we're talking about saving hundreds of people three or four at a time. So you imagine y'know, when we talk about the 23 checkpoints. And you take even 200 people, you divide it by the maximum 5 -- that would mean he [would] have 5 people in a vehicle, which is too conspicuous too. So he would do it in smaller numbers so that he wouldn't draw so much attention to people. But he'd go through all these checkpoints. And at every checkpoint you have to explain yourself.

… How would he get through?

That's just the way he was. People laughed. Even they have, or had, some attachment to a real world where there's real laughter. Even in all this gore, hatred; as long as you can have that brief glimpse of his smile, or laugh about something that's good, you'll grab onto it. And with Mbaye I think that's what everybody did. At all those checkpoints, they all knew him. …"

Unfortunately, he was killed at a checkpoint. Gromo Alex again:

"[Once] it was time to leave, the plan was that we were all just going to leave at the same time. … Then Mbaye said no, [because] he had some other things to do. It turned out that he was making arrangements to go get some other people. … But he had to go to headquarters first. So we went down the hill to ICRC. … We stopped there for a couple minutes. …

So we're coming up the hill and hear something on the radio. … We heard it was [Mbaye] had, I guess, pulled up a minute after we'd gone to the bridge, the last checkpoint. A mortar had landed behind his car and shrapnel came through the back window and [hit him] in the back of his head, and apparently killed him instantly. …

This was the day that General Dallaire had gone to Nairobi to meet with some U.S. congressmen to convince them of the gravity of the situation. [So] we're stunned, and we're trying to figure out what's happening, what we can do. People are talking about going [and] getting his dress uniform. They're calling around for a body bag. But there's no body bag. Not a body bag in the whole U.N. The ICRC doesn't have any body bags that they can spare. At this time, we're starting to put together and we're saying, you know, "Here's a guy who gave his ultimate, did everything, and we don't even have a body bag to show him some respect." So we're scrambling [and] people are asking us -- we're the humanitarians, we can get some plastic sheeting, we can make something. I can't even remember [the details]. It was kind of a daze. …

We had some UNICEF plastic sheeting, and we had some tape. Mbaye's body comes, and he's a big man, tall, big feet. He's on a stretcher now. Nobody knows exactly what to do, but we're going to make a body bag. … You want to do it right. You want to … zip it, [but] you got this U.N. light blue body bag, and we're going to make and fold the edges over. We're folding them up, and the creases aren't right, because his feet are so damn big. … You don't want that for him. You want it to be, like, just laid out perfectly, so that when people look at him, they know that he was something great."

While my government was devoting its energies to figuring out how to describe what was happening in Rwanda without using the word "genocide", Mbaye Diagne just saw what had to be done and did it, at the cost of his own life. He is one of my personal saints. I think that when you find a saint, you should reflect on his life, try to learn from it, and do him honor. If anyone agrees, link to this post: Mbaye Diagne and what he did deserve to be better known.

Comments

[Gromit]

I nearly cried, watching "Ghosts of Rwanda", in no small part due to Mbaye Diagne's story. Such a powerfully heroic man, and he died such a senseless death.

Thanks for posting this.

[ScottM]

I'd never heard this story before; thank you for sharing it with us.

[Anne]

I'd heard a story about his courage on NPR but your entry is very moving. Thanks for posting it.

[Platypus]

Let me join the chorus of thanks, hilzoy. I might not have heard this story otherwise and (even though I'm tearing up) I'm glad I did. Such a hero deserves to be remembered.

[crionna]

Wow, a true hero. I too never heard of this man until now.

Thanks Hilzoy.

[Lyndon Samson]

What a beautiful story of humanity, despite the sad ending.

There is a quote from Platos Laws in the book I'm currently reading,

"Men will live according to nature since in most respects they are puppets, yet having a small part in the truth"

This man at least showed us that not all men are puppets.

[Lyndon Samson]

What a beautiful story of humanity, despite the sad ending.

There is a quote from Platos Laws in the book I'm currently reading,

"Men will live according to nature since in most respects they are puppets, yet having a small part in the truth"

This man at least showed us that not all men are puppets.

[Larv]

I remember reading about him a while back. A true hero, in a day when that term is greatly overused. One question, though, should I ever want to discuss this outside of the blogosphere: how does one pronounce his name?

[hilzoy]

Larv: Mbay (rhymes with 'high', although if you can manage an almost undetectable lapse before the 'ee' at the end kicks in, so that there's a fleeting moment of 'a', that's best. And no stop between m and b.)

Jan/jang (the real pronunciation of the last bit in French would be: n with a little bit of y (the consonant, not the vowel) after, but when I've heard his name pronounced on TV it's closer to 'jang', though with the 'ng' part not, as it were, very ng.) There's also a hint of the i in the last name: transcribing it as 'jiang' would tempt one to pronounce it as two syllables ('jee-ang'), which is why I didn't, but it is definitely there if you listen.

[The Heretik]

This piece has made my day. Thank you for pointing out someone who with the grace of some light in a soul, with the power and will of conviction makes a mark in this life one life along the way after another.

[Anarch]

Less facetiously than in the other thread, words fail me. I fully intend to reflect on his life and thereby better my own. Thanks.

[Jackmormon]

Thanks, Hilzoy.

[The Heretik]

I just linked to this here

Thanks again. Any other words fail me.

[a nut]

Thanks for sharing and consider it linked!

[thomas]

Just a little tip: go see "Hotel Rwanda" aswell!

[Scone]

"my government"

This was the U.S. government under Bill Clinton, yes?

[Dahman from Holland]

I saw his story in "Ghosts of Rwanda". And what can I say?
Captain Mbaye Diagne was incredible. He should be remembered.

[Peter]

Thanks, Hilzoy.

[Peter]

Thanks, Hilzoy.

[Peter]

Thanks, Hilzoy.

[Joe]

I just finished watching Ghosts of Rwanda & unlike the first poster I did cry. I do not recall ever having such a tough time watching film than watching this documentary. If it wasn't for the courage shown of the men & women who stayed back I don't think I would have recovered any sense of hope in humanity & I mean that sincerely because it really affected me. Mbaye Diagne is one of those humans who truly inspire this hope. How the U.N & the Clinton adminstration & all those officials who turned their backs on this African genocide can sleep is beyond me.

[Jay]

i have been personally offended by our counties intentional ignoring this horrrific crime, but the story of Mbaye gives me hope and impressed me so much that i chose to share his story in my christian sunday school class

[GL Jayson]

Diagne Mbaye exemplifies the bravery, courage, and endurance of himself and the UN forces in Rwanda. May his memory be a service to all peacekeepers everywhere in providing safety and keeping the peace in many parts around the world.

My heart goes to his family and LGen. Romeo Dallaire. I feel a lot of shame that our country, the United States did not provide assistance or aid until after the crimes occurred and the genocide was over. US may be a big country, but we are definitely lacking heart when it comes to humanitarian aid around the world.

[Laura DeGrace]

There are no words. In 2006, Paul Rusesabagina came to speak at my school. I had been pretty ignorant of what happened in Rwanda up to that point. I'm ashamed of that. I'm ashamed, enraged by what the world did not do. As Paul Wilkins says in Ghosts of Rwanda, "What we have to realize, is that in each of us is a capacity for evil, and a capacity for good."

I've been reading a lot about Rwanda since, I also like the book, "Left to Tell" by Immaculée Ilibagiza. Her stories, and stories like the work Desmond Tutu did in South Africa make hope that the power of good can win, and that compassion and forgiveness (though not condoning) can overcome the capacity for evil, which in some cases I think can completely, and irrevocably take over a person until there is no humanity left in them. Of course the capacity for evil and the capacity of indifference and inaction often have the same result in the end. I don't think I can ever look at Bill Clinton in the same way after learning how he acted in this situation. There is no excuse... none, except personal greed.

Your anger at people who did nothing, at people how let evil and fear envelope them then threaten to overwhelm you, and that's how the cycle starts all over again.

Then, in rare miracles, there are people and stories like Captain Mbaye, which I hadn't heard of until Ghost of Rwanda. They restore my faith in faith in the capacity for good, in the capacity for humanity, in really, God.

If Captain Mbaye had to leave us, we can be thankful that his life gives us hope and faith to carry on and to believe in the good of people.