Camp Kigali Memorial Site

Camp Kigali Memorial Site: Ten Belgian UN peacekeepers were killed at Camp Kigali, a former Rwandan military installation in Kigali. Hutu zealots planned these killings in advance, and they were executed to compel the 450 Belgian soldiers who were a part of the UN mission to leave.

When Hutu militias (presidential guards) arrested and disarmed the troops, they were transferred to the military camp to defend the Rwandan prime minister, a Hutu who opposed the slaughter of Tutsis and is now hailed as a hero. Four of them were killed right away after arriving; the others defended themselves in a room and repelled their assailants for several hours before being dismembered.

Today, the location serves as a modest yet poignant monument to the warriors. There are still grenade blast marks and bullet holes to serve as a reminder of their awful destiny. Their passing hastened the international community’s departure from Rwanda and severely undermined the UN’s ability to respond to the escalating crisis.

The location where all ten Belgian UN forces were killed on the first day of the genocide is marked by the ten stone columns you see here.

The horizontal cuts in each stone column indicate the age of the soldier, and each stone column represents one of the troops. There is now a tiny exhibition about the genocide in the bullet-sprayed building where the troops perished.