In April 1994, when the Genocide against the Tutsi engulfed Rwanda, the world looked away. The United Nations peacekeeping mission collapsed, foreign contingents withdrew, and the few who remained faced impossible choices.
Yet among the abandonment, a handful of African soldiers defied orders, risking everything to save lives. Three decades later, their courage continues to resonate.
At a recent forum in Kigali themed “Inspiring the Youth of Tomorrow to Embrace Courage and Humanity,” Brigadier General Ronald Rwivanga, spokesperson of the Rwanda Defence Force (RDF), urged young Rwandans to draw strength from the moral clarity these peacekeepers displayed when the world deserted them.
“They are a living example of what it means to stand firm for truth, even when everyone else walks away,” he said.
A mission betrayed
The betrayal was swift. On April 7, 1994, Belgian troops began withdrawing from the United Nations Assistance Mission for Rwanda (UNAMIR). Their departure marked the beginning of the mission’s unraveling.
Within days, Belgium pushed aggressively for the dissolution of UNAMIR altogether. On April 11, Belgian forces abandoned more than 2,000 terrified civilians at ETO Kicukiro, leaving them to be slaughtered by the Interahamwe militia and government soldiers.
Under relentless pressure, the UN Security Council voted on April 21 to slash the mission to just 270 peacekeepers. That skeletal force, stripped of authority and capacity, could do little as massacres raged across the country.
But not everyone left. Soldiers from Ghana, Senegal, and a few other African countries chose to remain in Kigali, even when their service was no longer formally recognized as part of the UN mission.
Their defiance was not rewarded with recognition or pay, it was met with daily peril. Still, the Ghanaian battalion alone is credited with saving some 30,000 lives.
As Brig. Gen. Rwivanga challenged the young people listening to him, the question was sharp: “What would you have done? And more importantly, what can you do today to stand firm for truth and humanity?”
Choosing sacrifice
For Brigadier General Faye Hadji Babacar of Senegal, the decision to stay in Rwanda remains one of the defining moments of his life. Reflecting on those days, he recalled the stark choice they faced: obey orders and retreat to safety in Nairobi, or remain in Kigali to shield the defenseless.
“We had the right to leave because that was the order. Those who left for Nairobi received comfort and safety. Those who stayed in Rwanda were given less pay and faced daily gunfire. But choosing to remain here meant choosing sacrifice,” he said.
Each day carried the shadow of death. Escort missions could easily turn into ambushes. During one such assignment, Faye accompanied a nun back to her home near the Bralirwa factory.
Suddenly, he was surrounded by armed militia who accused him of being Inyenzi, a derogatory term for the Tutsi and the Rwandan Patriotic Army.
“They shouted ‘Inyenzi, Inyenzi.’ One even told me, ‘You look like them. I replied, ‘I am Senegalese, not Inyenzi.’ After tense minutes, they let me go,’” he recalled.
That narrow escape was one of many reminders that survival was never guaranteed. Still, Faye insists the risks were worth it. Saving even two or three people in a single day, he says, justified the danger.
The legacy of Captain Mbaye
Among the soldiers who stayed, none embodies their spirit more fully than Captain Mbaye Diagne, Faye’s compatriot and close friend. Deployed as a military observer under the Arusha Peace Accords, Mbaye became legendary for his daring rescues.
When the genocide began, he launched solo missions, often driving his own car through militia checkpoints to smuggle Tutsi to safety. He carried no weapon, only his wit, his uniform, and his unflinching resolve.
In one of his most heroic acts, he rescued the children of slain Prime Minister Agathe Uwilingiyimana, spiriting them through hostile roadblocks to the safety of Hôtel des Mille Collines.
“The bravery of Captain Mbaye, who saved many lives with nothing but his intellect and courage, remains one of the most remarkable acts by an individual soldier in UN peacekeeping history. A commitment that ultimately cost him his life,” Rwivanga emphasized.
That cost was exacted on May 31, 1994. While carrying a message from UN commander Gen. Roméo Dallaire to the Rwandan army chief Augustin Bizimungu, Mbaye’s vehicle was struck by a shell at a roadblock. He was killed instantly, just days before his scheduled return home.
Faye was among the first to reach the scene. Decades later, the pain remains raw. “His courage remains one of the most outstanding acts by a UN soldier. He gave everything—including his life,” he said softly.
Remembering the defiance
Ghanaian commander Maj. Gen. (Rtd) Clayton Boanubah Yaache, who served in Rwanda during the genocide, still recalls the shock of watching the UN withdraw. For him, the lesson was clear: the greatest duty of a soldier is not blind obedience but the defense of life itself.
That conviction has since been recognized. In 2022, President Paul Kagame honored retired Ghanaian officers Henry Kwami Anyidoho and Joseph Adinkra with medals of valor for their leadership during those dark days.
But perhaps the deepest recognition lies not in medals, nor in official ceremonies, but in the quiet endurance of the lives saved, and in the example left behind for generations to come.
For the survivors of 1994, and for the youth of Rwanda today, the story of the peacekeepers who stayed is more than history. It is a testament that even in humanity’s bleakest moments, conviction and compassion can prevail.
