Mbaye Diagne

Mbaye Diagne (18 March 195831 May 1994) 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 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.

Mbaye Diagne was born on 18 March 1958 in Koki, Louga region, Senegal.

His first language was Wolof, but he learned to speak others, including English and French.

He grew up in Pikine, a suburb of Dakar.

Diagne was one of nine children, and the first person in his family to attend university, studying at the University of Dakar.

He married Yacine Mar Diop and had a son, Cheikh, and a daughter, Coumba, with her.

In January 1983 Diagne enrolled in the École Nationale des Officiers d'Active (National School for Active Officers).

He graduated in July 1984 and was made head of section of the 12th Training Battalion of the Senegalese Army.

In 1985 he was made promotion encadreur (organiser) at the Ecole Nationale des Sous-Officiers d'Active (National School of Active Non-Commissioned Officers).

He 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 1989 Diagne was given command of the 3rd Company of the Confederal Battalion, later the 6th Infantry Battalion, in Bignona.

From there he fought in the Casamance conflict until 1993.

In 1993 Diagne was sent to Rwanda as a military observer attached to an Organisation of African Unity team meant to monitor the Rwandan Civil War, a conflict fought between the Hutu-dominated government of Rwanda and the Tutsi-led Rwanda Patriotic Front (RPF).

Later that year the United Nations created 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.

Diagne was then reassigned to UNAMIR and served officially as a military liaison officer between UNAMIR and the Rwandan government.

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.

On 31 May 1994 Diagne was killed when a mortar shell launched by RPF forces exploded near his car while he was stopped at a government checkpoint.

His death led the UN to suspend relief operations in Kigali.

His body was repatriated to Senegal and buried with full military honours.

On 6 April 1994 the plane carrying the President of Rwanda, Juvénal Habyarimana, was shot down.

Soon thereafter the civil war resumed while Hutu extremists moved to seize power and began the Rwandan genocide, targeting members of the Tutsi ethnic minority.

The Interahamwe, a Hutu extremist militia, erected roadblocks across the Rwandan capital, Kigali, to screen for Tutsis.

The following morning Prime Minister Agathe Uwilingiyimana, a moderate Hutu who preferred to negotiate a power-sharing agreement with the Tutsis, was assassinated by soldiers of the Presidential Guard at her home in Kigali.

The ten Belgian peacekeepers assigned to her protection were also murdered.

Diagne heard rumours of Uwilingiyimana's murder from people fleeing to Hôtel des Mille Collines, which was occupied by UN peacekeepers.

He came to investigate and found the prime minister's four children being hidden in the adjoining United Nations Development Programme housing compound.

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.