Library Weekly

On 31 May 1994 Senegalese military officer Mbaye Diagne was killed when a mortar shell launched by Rwanda Patriotic Front forces exploded near his car. Diagne was a Senegalese military officer who served in Rwanda as a United Nations military observer from 1993 to 1994. During the Rwandan genocide he undertook many missions on his own initiative to save the lives of civilians.

Diagne was born on 18 March 1958 in Senegal. After graduating from the University of Dakar he enrolled in the Senegalese Army's École Nationale des Officiers d'Active. He completed his schooling the following year and eventually attained the rank of captain. He was given command of the 3rd Company of the 6th Infantry Battalion and fought in the Casamance conflict from 1989 to 1993.

That year Diagne was sent to Rwanda as part of an Organisation of African Unity military observer team tasked with monitoring the Rwandan Civil War, a conflict fought between the Hutu-dominated government and the Tutsi-led Rwanda Patriotic Front (RPF). Later he was assigned to the United Nations Assistance Mission for Rwanda (UNAMIR), a UN peacekeeping force meant to oversee the implementation of the Arusha Accords—a peace agreement designed to end the war. In April 1994 the President of Rwanda was killed. Hutu extremists initiated the Rwandan genocide, targeting members of the Tutsi ethnic minority. They murdered moderate Hutu Prime Minister Agathe Uwilingiyimana, and Diagne rescued her children and secured them safe passage out of the country. He then undertook numerous missions on his own around Kigali in violation of the UN's rules of engagement, hiding Tutsis in his car and evacuating them to UN installations. He also protected some Hutus and worked to safeguard the Senegalese expatriate community. Various estimates exist for the number of lives Diagne saved, ranging as high as over 1,000.

In 2005 Diagne was posthumously awarded the rank of Knight in Senegal's National Order of the Lion. The UN Security Council created the Captain Mbaye Diagne Medal for Exceptional Courage in 2014 in his honour.

(Source: Wikipedia)

Selected publications

Le génocide des Tutsi au Rwanda / Filip Reyntjens. - Paris Presses universitaires de France, 2017
(For the Dutch translation see: De genocide van de Tutsi in Rwanda)

The Bishop of Rwanda / John Rucyahana; James Riordan. - Nashville [etc.] : Thomas Nelson [etc.], cop. 2007

An ordinary man : the true story behind Hotel Rwanda / Paul Rusesabagina. - London : Bloomsbury, 2007

Journey into darkness : genocide in Rwanda / Thomas Paul Odom. - College Station, TX : Texas A&M University Press, cop. 2005

Doodsangst en levenskracht : Rwanda tien jaar na de genocide in tien portretten / Jeroen Corduwener. -Amsterdam [etc.] : Veen, cop. 2004

Shake Hands with the Devil: The Failure of Humanity in Rwanda. / Roméo Dallaire, Brent Beardsley. - New York City: Carroll & Graf Publishers, 2003.

For more publications see the ASCL Library Catalogue

Audio: Why we should honour UN heroes like Captain Diagne (UN News)

Knights in Senegal's National Order of the Lion, via Wikidata