Captain Mbaye Diagne

Captain Mbaye Diagne was born in the outskirts of Dakar, Senegal. He was one of nine children from a poor family, and was the first to go to University. He joined the army After graduating from the University of Dakar, and served in Rwanda as an unarmed U.N. military observer.

Captain Mbaye Diagne

When the Genocide started in Rwanda, he ignored the U.N's orders not to intervene and rescued the children of the moderate Prime Minister Agathe Uwilingiyimana, and a group of 25 Tutsis hiding in a house in Nyamirambo, a Kigali neighborhood that was particularly dangerous. He was able to transport the Tutsis to the U.N. headquarters in groups of five, passing through 23 militia checkpoints with a Jeep-load of Tutsis on each trip. He continued on his solo mission to rescue many more Tutsi's during the war.

Captain Diagne died on May 31st by a random mortar shell that was fired by the Rwandan Patriotic Front towards an extremist checkpoint and it accidentally landed next to his Jeep. He was buried in Senegal with full military honors, leaving behind a wife and two children.

The video below is a frontline documentary about him while in Rwanda.

Inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi raji'un (Surely we belong to God and to Him shall we return). May Allah grant this brother a high place in heaven, as he truly was a devout Muslim not only in words but also in his actions.

Source: The Man Everyone Remembers - by Greg Barker