Tribute to a man of honour: Captain Diagne Mba

François-Xavier Nsanzuwera reflects about Captain Diagne Mbaye, a true exemplar of Pan-Africanism who dies in Rwanda as he fought against the 1994 genocide

In April 2008, the world commemorates the 14th anniversary of the genocide of the Tutsis of Rwanda. The estimated figure of the victims of this genocide stands at more than one million people. However, as rightly expressed by the Court of Appeal of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), the world will probably never know the exact number of fatalities. Speaking about the campaign aiming at exterminating the Tutsis in 1994, the Court of Appeal stated that "That campaign was successful to a dreadful degree; although the exact numbers may never be known, the great majority of Tutsis were murdered while many others were raped or otherwise harmed."

This remembrance also coincides with the closing down of the ICTR. This ad hoc international criminal tribunal, established by Resolution 955 (1994) of the Security Council of the 8th of November 1994 must complete in 2008 the trials already brought before the Court and those before the Court of Appeal by 2010.

This Tribunal closes down at a time when all the observers, including its detractors, recognize that it has reached its cruising speed, mainly in 2003.

As of today, 27 accused have been finally convicted, 27 cases are still awaiting judgement, one is pending before the Court of Appeal and 5 people have been acquitted. Two cases were transmitted to a national court of law, namely those of the abbot Wenceslas Munyeshyaka and the former prefect of Gikongoro, Laurent Bucyibaruta. The Prosecutor also requested the Court of the ICTR to authorize the transfer of some cases to Rwanda, pursuant to Rule 11 bis of the Rules of procedure and evidence.

Even if not all the torturers were apprehended and judged, the legacy of the ICTR will be considerable. Some observers tend to always assess the performance of the ICTR through numbers, namely, numbers of people judged and the financial cost. The importance of the legacy of the ICTR to the world is fundamental.

One of the achievements of the ICTR lies in the recognition of the genocide of the Tutsis. The judgements rendered by the various Courts and the Court of Appeal of the ICTR confirm that a genocide occurred in Rwanda. The already quoted decision of the Court of Appeal of the ICTR renders it clearly: "The fact of the Rwandan genocide is a part of world history, a fact as certain as any other, a classic instance of a “fact of common knowledge."

This judicial notice drawn up by the Court of Appeal, in its decision of 16 June 2006, constitutes an effective weapon in the fight against all the revisionists and those denying the existence of the genocide in Rwanda.

The jurisprudence of the ICTR contributed also to the development of the corpus of international humanitarian law. Paying tribute to the co-operation between the Government of Rwanda and the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, Mr. Ban Ki-Moon, Secretary General of the United Nations, stated, during his visit to Rwanda said that "the good co-operation between your country and the ICTR has not only made possible the promotion of national reconciliation; it also played an important rôle in the development of the jurisprudence in international criminal law." (Fondation Hirondelle, 31 January 2008)

Mr Ban Ki-Moon stressed that the legacy of the ICTR is a testimony of the common fight against impunity.

On the 7th of April 2008, our thoughts will go not only to the victims and the survivors of the genocide but also to all those men and women of different nationalities, from different legal backgrounds who were the pioneers of the work accomplished by the ICTR. They were not in Nuremberg and not in Tokyo in 1945 but they were in Arusha. They brought their contribution to this building of justice, one of the pillars of reconciliation.

This memorial should also be an opportunity to think of the Just, these men and women who, while risking their lives, saved the Tutsis whose very life was threatened. At the time of the celebration of the World Women’s Day at the ICTR, the Prosecutor, Mr. Hassan B Jallow, stressed the heroic role played by Rwandan women, like Zula Karuhimbi, who saved their Tutsi compatriots during the genocide.

Today, my thoughts go particularly to a man who lost his life in Rwanda during the genocide, namely the Senegalese Captain Diagne Mbaye. He was a blue helmet of the United Nations Assistance Mission for Rwanda (UNAMIR) and he fell under a bomb. He was in the prime of life, the time when one enjoys life, makes projects and fulfils those things he/she has always been dreaming of. He was young and handsome but was also particularly courageous and so generous that he lost his life in Rwanda, far from Senegal, the country where he was born.

I do not know the exact circumstances of his death. I came to know him on the 10th of April 1994 at the Hotel des Milles Collines where my wife and I had just found refuge. This man was our guardian angel during our stay at the Hotel des Milles Collines from the 10th of April to the 28th of May 1994. During the two months that we spent at this hotel, Captain Diagne Mbaye went every day into the town of Kigali to help people in danger. Every day he would bring back to the hotel many entire families thus saving their lives.

After the genocide, several survivors recounted to us the courageous acts of Captain Mbaye. Many a survivor has bad memories of the UNAMIR. The latter reminds them of the abandonment, a sort of treason for those who believed in the Arusha Peace Accords and for those who believed in the peacekeeping mission of this force. However, some men within this institution risked their own life to save people. One can mention the commander-in-chief of this mission who, without inadequate means, remained with some few people and witnessed the tragic moments of the history of Rwanda and the world. The genocide has left its mark on his life. When he went to testify before the ICTR, General Romeo Dallaire paid tribute to the victims of the genocide. He saved the honour of the international community which gave up on the victims for three months. I have much respect for this man whose suffering makes him close to many survivors.

The courage of Captain Diagne Mbaye and his demise in the cause of Rwanda, right in the middle of the genocide, reconcile us with our mother continent. For three months, the world and Africa watched the genocide without doing anything, while the whole of mankind stared at the macabre images shown on the television screens. However, in Rwanda, some men and women of honour did what they could to save lives.

If today the younger generations must learn the history of the Holocaust, the genocide of the Armenians, the genocide done by the Khmers Rouges and the genocide of the Tutsis in Rwanda, it is important that they also learn the history of the courageous people, like Captain Diagne Mbaye, the people who, like him, remind us of our common humanity. During the horrible times of wars and genocides, these brave men and women save our humanity, our "ubuntu". The abbot Alexis Kagame and His Lordship Desmond Tutu wrote many articles on this beautiful word of “ubuntu” that is found in several Bantu languages. In Kinyarwanda, the word “ubuntu” means generosity, humanity, the fact of being human.

During this month of painful memories, my thoughts go to Captain Mbaye who died far from his motherland and his people and to all those, amongst his comrades, who remained men of honour. Somewhere in Rwanda, somewhere in the world, each time the international community remembers the genocide of the Tutsis and the massacre of Hutus opposed to the ideology of the genocide, there are men and women who think of Captain Diagne Mbaye and at what his memory represents, namely courage, dedication to duty, sense of honour and selflessness.

*François-Xavier Nsanzuwera is affiliated with the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda.

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