Intent to Deceive: Denying the Genocide of the Tutsi

by Linda Melvern

The information provided by the informer about the stockpiled weapons was of the utmost concern. The commander of UNAMIR’s Kigali battalion of Belgian troops, Colonel Luc Marchal, was responsible for ensuring a Kigali Weapons-Secure Area (KWSA) in which all armaments were subject to monitoring by UN personnel. Until the meeting with Jean-Pierre, Marchal had reported that the only weapons the Interahamwe possessed were traditional spears, clubs and machetes.14 Dallaire did not know at the time that Marchal kept his own intelligence network which he outlined in a statement to ICTR investigators in 1997. Marchal admitted that his Kigali battalion had paid informers, and he handed over a list of their names. He said that he got the list from Lieutenant Mark Nees, who ran this secret network for him.