Camp Kigali Belgian Memorial

Camp Kigali Belgian Memorial - The site in Rwanda 's capital city Kigali where ten Belgian UN peacekeepers were murdered by the Hutu extremists in order to provoke a withdrawal of the UN forces, which then cleared the way for the full scale of the Rwandan genocide to unfold. > More background info > What there is to see > Location > Access and costs > Time required > Combinations with other dark destinations > Combinations with non-dark destinations > Photos More background info: When the UN mission for Rwanda ( UNAMIR ) was set up in 1993, the only first-world nation willing to provide professionally equipped soldiers for the peacekeeping effort was Belgium , of all countries. This was unfortunate in so far as Belgium was also the former colonial power in Rwanda , until independence was granted in 1962. Normally the UN avoids having personnel from former colonial countries involved in the relevant countries, in this case there wasn't much choice, given the reluctance of all other developed nations to take part. The rest of the mission personnel was eventually comprised of Ghanaians , Tunisians, Bangladeshis and other nationals from developing countries. Obviously, Belgian soldiers present in Rwanda posed a certain risk for the overall atmosphere, and also for the Belgian troops themselves, since they could potentially be targets of aggression. But what happened on the first day after the genocide broke out, on 7 April 1994, was, however, not so much rampaging mob aggression, but rather a very carefully calculated assassination for a very specific purpose. And there had been a warning. An informer, the ominous "Jean Pierre" (the code name used by the UN), confided, amongst other things, that there was a plan on the part of the Hutu extremists to take out some ten Belgian soldiers with the clear aim of destabilizing the UN mission.