Luc Marchal

He is known for being the senior officer in the Belgian peacekeeping contingent during the 1994 Rwandan genocide, as well as the United Nations Assistance Mission for Rwanda (UNAMIR) sector commander for the capital Kigali.

[1] Marchal had five years of experience working in Zaire,[2] and his United Nations Assistance Mission for Rwanda (UNAMIR) commander, Canadian Lieutenant General Roméo Dallaire, praised him, stating, "Luc carried no colonial baggage" and that he "had a special knack for working with troops from less sophisticated armies.

Belgium was eager to send a contingent to UNAMIR to protect the large number of Belgian citizens in the Rwanda and offer an excuse for their withdrawal from the United Nations mission in Somalia.

[3] Dallaire became increasingly frustrated that UNAMIR was expected to operate in a total lack of information about the country and current events.

When his request to United Nations headquarters for an intelligence gathering capability was denied because such a capability was considered incompatible with peacekeeping, he asked Marchal to pass on a request for assistance to Belgian General Information and Security Service (SGR), which eventually resulted in a two-person cell and small intelligence network that directed information to Brussels, rather than Dallaire.

"Jean-Pierre" described a complex process of training, organizing and arming militias in preparation for the extermination of Tutsi.

Luc Marchal
A chalkboard at Camp Kigali , where ten Belgian soldiers were killed at the outset of the genocide. Note the names "Dallaire" and "Marchal" on the right of the board - "avez vous des oreilles, yeux?" is French for "do you have ears, eyes?"