Mbaye Diagne
Mbaye Diagne (* unknown; † 31 May 1994 Kigali ) was a Senegalese army officer with the rank of captain and military observers of the United Nations during the 1994 genocide in Rwanda During its operation in Rwanda, he had almost non-stop bailouts and at great personal. risk can save many people.
He grew up as a devout Muslim in a family of eleven on the outskirts of Dakar. After completing his studies at the Université Cheikh Anta Diop de Dakar, he joined as an officer in the army senegalisische. He was ordered to the UNAMIR to support the peacekeeping force that should enforce the Arusha Agreement, as a military observer in 1993. He was stationed in the Hôtel des Mille Collines, a luxury hotel in the Rwandan capital Kigali.
The mission in Rwanda
The genocide in Rwanda erupted in its full extent after the assassination of Rwandan President Juvenal Habyarimana in the night of 6 April 1994. Radical members of the Hutuvolksgruppe, previously peace negotiations with the, led by Tutsi Rwandan Patriotic Front had torpedoed, began a implement previously prepared plan to assassinate moderate politicians. On the morning of April 6, the Prime Minister Agathe Uwilingiyimana was killed along with her husband by soldiers of the Presidential Guard. Ten Belgian peacekeepers who had been placed for their protection, were also killed by Rwandan soldiers.
Mbaye Diagne received the first news of the assassination of Prime Minister from people who were at the Hôtel des Mille Collines refuge. For more information Mbaye went unarmed to the apartment of the Prime Minister, where he found the four surviving children of Agathe Uwilingiyimana. There he was encountered by the UNAMIR commander Roméo Dallaire, the more information about the whereabouts of the prime minister also sought out. Dallaire pointed Mbaye to be waiting for a transport tank, which, however, did not arrive. It is to be assumed that Mbaye children in the back seat of his jeep back to the Hôtel des Mille Collines smuggled.
Although it was forbidden to the members of UNAMIR to save civilians directly and escort to safer zones, Mbaye Diagne put such actions continue on your own. The Head of the Humanitarian Operation in Rwanda commented, saying: ". Here is someone who steps out of line and [ the General] will not discipline him because he is doing the right thing" the information about the number of Mbaye Diagne rescued people vary between " several dozen " and " at least hundreds ". Since he numerous checkpoints of the Rwandan army and the Hutu militia Interahamwe Impuzamugambi and had to happen in his bailouts, Mbaye transported a maximum of five refugees for every trip. Upon passing the post was assisted by his extensive contacts and its ability to relax the situation with jokes. In several cases, he bribed the soldiers and irregulars with small sums of money or cigarettes.
On 31 May 1994, the Jeep Mbaye Daigne, as this was a message from the chief of staff of the Rwandan army Augustin Bizimungu to Roméo Dallaire on the way back in the UN headquarters in Kigali, was narrowly missed by a mortar shell. However, several shrapnel smashed through the rear window of the ATV, Mbaye met in the back of the head, killing him on the spot. The shell had been fired by the Rwandan Patriotic Front on a checkpoint of the Rwandan armed forces.
Mbaye Daigne was buried with full military honors in Senegal. He left behind a wife and two children.