Luc Marchal

Colonel Luc Marchal is a retired officer of the armed forces of Belgium. 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.

Col. Marchal had, by 1994, accumulated 30 years of experience in the Belgian military, fifteen of them as a paracommando. Before his Rwanda assignment, he had been chief of staff to the Minister of Defense. Marchal had five years of experience working in Zaire, and his United Nations Assistance Mission for Rwanda (UNAMIR) commander, Canadian Lt. 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."

Col. Marchal landed in Rwanda on 9 December 1993. He was the most senior officer in the 440-troop strong Belgian contribution to UNAMIR. As the best trained and equipped contingent in the force, the Belgians formed the backbone of the force. Marchal had been given the command in October and, before leaving, had complained that the contingent did not have enough firepower if he needed to evacuate. He was reassured, "You're going to Club Med." 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. On several occasions, Marchal asked Brussels for guidance to direct his operations. He was never provided with directives, or even rules of engagement to govern what the Belgian peacekeepers could and could not do.

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