Camp Kigali Memorial Site

Camp Kigali Memorial Site: Ten Belgian UN peacekeepers were killed at Camp Kigali, a former Rwandan military post in Kigali. The 450 Belgian soldiers who were a part of the UN force were forced to retire by means of these premeditated murders, which were carried out by Hutu zealots.

 

When the troops were apprehended and disarmed by Hutu militias (presidential guards), they were transferred to the military base. The prime minister of Rwanda, a hutu who opposed the slaughter of Tutsis, was protected by the soldiers. Today, she is revered as a hero. Following their arrival, four of them were slaughtered right away. The remaining three locked themselves in a room and resisted their attackers for several hours before being killed and disfigured.

Now, the location serves as a modest yet poignant memorial for the warriors. They left behind blast marks from grenades and bullet holes as mementos of their horrible demise. Their passing hastened the international evacuation from Rwanda and seriously undermined the UN’s ability to contain the rapidly spreading crisis.

The locations of the ten stone columns here indicate the locations of the ten Belgian UN peacekeepers who were killed on the first day of the massacre.

The horizontal cuts in each stone column signify the soldier’s age, while each column itself represents one of the warriors. A modest exhibition about the genocide is currently housed in the bullet-sprayed structure where the troops perished.