UN medal named after fallen peacekeeper in Rwanda

The United Nations Security Council yesterday created “the Captain Mbaye Diagne Medal for Exceptional Courage” in honour of a United Nations peacekeeper credited with saving lives in the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi.

Diagne, a Senegalese national, was killed in action while he served with the UN Assistance Mission in Rwanda (Unamir) and was on July 4, 2010, posthumously honoured by Rwanda for his courage in saving lives during the Genocide.

After the adoption of the resolution, Rwanda’s Permanent Representative at the UN, Amb. Eugene-Richard Gasana, said Diagne was more than “others”.

“In the face of evil, he refused to be a bystander; he chose to become an ‘up-stander’. He acted as a peacekeeper, he acted as a soldier, he acted as a humanbeing to save lives, even against the Unamir mandate, against the rules of engagement and against instructions from New York,” Gasana told the Security Council yesterday.

The medal will be awarded to those military, police, civilian UN personnel and associated personnel “who demonstrate exceptional courage, in the face of extreme danger, while fulfilling the mandate of their missions or their functions, in the service of humanity and the United Nations,” according to a resolution unanimously adopted by the Council.

The Council recognised “with the deepest regret” how the family of Captain Diagne never received, after his death, any expressions of appreciation from UN Headquarters for the sacrifices made by their distinguished family member, according to a UN statement.

Risking it all for humanity

The Council asked the UN Secretary-General to establish, within six months from the design of the medal, and submit to the Security Council the modalities for determining how the recipients of the medal shall be nominated and chosen.

The peacekeeper was during the Liberation Day event in 2010 awarded Umurinzi, Rwanda’s campaign against the Genocide medal, which was handed to his widow by President Paul Kagame.

“After the then Prime Minister Agathe Uwilingiyimana was murdered, you took it upon yourself to ensure the safety of her orphaned children,” reads part of the citation read in his honour.

“Your actions stunned the Unamir commander, Gen. Romeo Dallaire, when he realised the risky operations you were undertaking in a dangerous environment and with restrictions imposed by Unamir. You paid the ultimate price for your extraordinary humanitarian deeds.”