Belgian Foreign and Defence Ministers, Hadja Lahbib and Ludivine Dedonder, paid tribute in Kigali on Monday to the 22 Belgians – 12 civilians and 10 military personnel – who lost their lives in the 1994 genocide in Rwanda.
The soldiers killed all belonged to the mortar platoon of the 2nd commando battalion in Flawinne, and were serving as peacekeepers with the UN Assistance Mission for Rwanda (UNAMIR).
The Belgian peacekeepers were tasked with escorting Prime Minister Agathe Uwilingiyimana, a moderate Hutu, to the radio station in the aftermath of the attack on President Juvénal Habyarimana's plane.
In an anti-Belgian climate, Uwilingiyimana was planning to launch an appeal for calm over the radio the following morning after the president's death.
However, the presidential guard took control of the radio station early in the morning, and Uwilingiyimana was forced to cancel her speech. The presidential guard eventually found and killed the Prime Minister and her husband later in the day while they were attempting to escape.
The Belgian peacekeepers were also captured by the Rwandan soldiers and taken to the Kigali camp, where they were all executed after handing over their weapons. The heavy impact of the shots still visible on the wall today.
Credit: Belga
On Monday, Lahbib and Dedonder also honoured the memory of the eight Rwandan employees of the Belgian Embassy, in Kigali who were killed often with their families, in the genocide — a first recognition in 30 years.
'Viciously murdered'
The two ministers met with the families of the victims at the embassy in the morning, where two plaques display the victims’ names.
"Ten of our compatriots were viciously murdered because they were related to or married to Tutsi, or because they were Belgian," said the head of diplomacy. Two more died due to a lack of care.
"One of our diplomats only survived by pretending to be French," she added, referencing the anti-Belgian sentiment stirred by Hutu extremists and the ‘hate media’, the Radio Tele Mille Collines (RTML).
Defence Minister Ludivine Dedonder, European Council President Belgian Charles Michel and Foreign minister Hadja Lahbib attend a commemoration ceremony at Camp Kigali, the Belgian Peacekeepers Memorial in Kigali. Credit: Belga
The tribute to the Belgian victims is an annual ceremony, Belgian Ambassador in Rwanda Bart Versmessen reminded attendees, the day after international tribute to the Rwandan victims on the 30th Kwibika, or ‘remembrance day’ in Kinyarwanda, attended by President Paul Kagame and numerous foreign officials including European Council president, Belgian Charles Michel and former US and French presidents, Bill Clinton and Nicolas Sarkozy.
Defence Minister Dedonder explained the rationale behind the separate commemoration organised by the embassy and at Camp Kigali, a former Rwandan military barracks where 10 UN peacekeepers were killed on April 7, 1994.
"We definitely wanted to align ourselves with these commemorations," she stated during the ceremony at Camp Kigali.
"We honour the lives lost and the survivors," added the minister in front of a group of Rwandan and international officials, as well as family members of the military and civilian victims—some visibly moved—soldiers from the 2nd Commando Battalion, and Belgian students, in testimony to the duty of remembrance.
List of Belgians honoured
Military personnel:
- Lieutenant Thierry Lotin, born in Charleroi on 28 December 1964
- First Sergeant Yannick Leroy, born in Mehaigne on 15 February 1965
- Corporal Stéphane Lhoir, born in Blankenberge on 5 April 1966
- Corporal Bruno Bassine, born in Watermael on 31 December 1966
- Corporal Louis Plescia, born in Seraing on 24 July 1961
- Corporal Bruno Meaux, born in Tournai on 23 November 1965
- Corporal Marc Uyttebroeck, born in Gosselies on 2 May 1968
- Corporal Christophe Dupont, born in Soignies on 30 September 1968
- Corporal Alain Debatty, born in Charleroi on 18 November 1964
- Corporal Christophe Renwa, born in Liège on 17 August 1967
Civilians:
- Etienne Staelgrave, born on 8 October 1963 in Tournai and killed on 7 April 1994 in Kigali by members of the presidential guard "because he was Belgian."
- Paul Van Vynckt, born on 20 February 1945 in Charleroi and killed in July 1994. His body was shot through the head. He was seen on 11 July 1994 by a Rwandan woman in a ditch at Rushashi on a secondary road west of the main Kigali-Ruhengeri road. He is believed to have been killed during fighting between the Hutu-dominated Rwandan Armed Forces (FAR) and the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF, the Tutsi rebellion that took power in Kigali at the time).
- Albert Craemers, born on November 20, 1937 in Woluwe-Saint-Pierre and killed on April 7, 1994 in Nyamirambo (Kigali) by FAR soldiers "because he was Belgian" (after checking his passport)
- Paul Kesenne, born February 25, 1936 in Corswarem. This missionary priest, vicar priest of Rususa, was killed on 15 July 1994 in Gisenyi.
- Annie Roland, born on 10 June 1938 in Biesmerée, wife of Rwandan Jean Huss Mugwaneza. She was killed with her husband on 7 April 1994 in Kicukiro (Kigali).
- Claire Beckers, born on 22 February 1948 in Brussels and wife of Rwandan Isaïe Bucyana, killed in Kigali in early April with her husband and a daughter "because she was Belgian," according to her sister Martine.
- Katia Bucyana, born on 12 January 1974 in Brussels. Daughter of Claire Beckers, she was killed in Kigali in early April with her parents.
- Antoine Godfriaux, born on 24 July 1962 in Mons. A development worker with the Mons-based NGO Nord-Sud Coopération, he was shot dead by Hutu Interahamwe militias on 7 April 1994 in Rambura, Karago commune (Gisenyi).
- Christine André, born on 21 July 1966 in Mons. She was Antoine Godfriaux's wife and died in the same circumstances as her husband.
- Olivier Dulieu, born on 4 December 1970 in Ixelles. Working for the same NGO, he died in the same circumstances as his two colleagues
Civilians who died of "natural causes"
- Father Gigi Michel, born on 7 April 1940 and died on 6 July 1994 in Nyababanda of illness/lack of care (probably pneumonia).
- Hélène Lévêque, born on 14 April 1925 in Jemappes and died on 27 June 1994 in Kigali from lack of care/privation.
