[3] In 1973, he became an assistant to the Executive Secretariat in preparation for the Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe in Geneva, and in 1975 he joined the United Nations Legal Service.
He is known for sending Brussels early warnings of what became the upcoming Rwandan genocide while ambassador in Rwanda.
In 1992, he cabled Brussels that the Interahamwe militia had taken part in the carefully planned killings of around 300 Tutsis in southeastern Rwanda's Bugesera District.
[5][6][7][8][9][10] In January 1994, several months before the Rwandan genocide, he warned Brussels about calls on the radio for the extermination of the Tutsi.
[11] He warned that as long as the United Nations Assistance Mission for Rwanda did not intervene, arms would be distributed to the Interahamwe.