Mariam Ndiaye: "plus jamais ça" - Follow-up on the Ogossango tragedy; memories of Rwanda

Editor's Note:  This letter relates to Mariam's earlier post 'No Word Can Describe These Mass Killings", referring to the attacks in Mopti, Mali in late March.

Dear Tom, 

Thank your for sharing.

Indeed there will be a « before » and a »after » Ogossango.

The words « plus jamais ça » are said everywhere. We pray to be heard.

We are anxious to see what « real investigations » will reveal as to the perpetrators and the causes behind. The  administrative and political decisions made immediately after the tragedy, under emotions and pressure will not bring us far.

Tom, for at least three reasons I was hit by the Ogossango tragedy:

1)it brought me back to my own comments in 2009, when I watched on TV that big international event gathering the Peulhs and creating and an ethnic based association. This was before the crisis which exploded in 2012. i remember saying : «est il sage d’organiser un tel événement dans une nation en construction? Et si d’autres groupes ethniques décidaient de faire pareil, et si au delà de l’aspect culturel les peules devenaient des « cibles »?

2) a couple of weeks ago, as the Marraine of an association called Mouvement MaliValeurs, I was co-chairing a Symposium on the subject: « Deconstruire le discours de l’ethnicisation », we have never thought that it was so urgent and that something like Ogossangou would happen so soon.

3) Finally, the Ogossango tragedy is happening during the period of « kivibaka », when we all remember the genocide un Rwanda, when the entire world is supposed to have learned its lessons .

 Only 25years have passed. For me it is like yesterday . I have been exchanging with friends and colleagues these days remembering that tragic day and the months that followed.

I recall that when the plane of the then rwandan president crashed, We were having lunch at the residence of the Malian Ambassador in IvoryCoast, Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, who is currently the President of Mali....

I recall that when many of us were wondering how we could contribute, Nancy Andrade-Castro called me on your behalf Tom, and asked if I would accept the mission to « trace and retrieve the staff of UNICEF Rwanda, provide support, identifié those who were willing to return ». My response was an immediate Yes.

It has been such an experience : giving my Time, energy, compassion, learning, helping, feeling useful, inspiring new policies, recognizing true leadership.

When I look back, I feel so much proud of being part of UNICEF , an organization who cared about its rwandan staff. People like yourself and Nancy who knew and trusted the field staff, people like Nigel Fisher who during the toughest aftermath led such big and heteroclit team. I was going through the old photos these days...Nigel, the members of response team, Marcel Rudasingwa then National officer, who had lost all their children, but were able a couple of weeks later to chat, laugh during a gathering, and Duda Suzic, myself, Alphonse walking on the roads, with Harry Belafonte, in the crowd of Rwandan refugees crossing the border...so many memories....I will probably sent to our retiree news bulletin.

Voilà Tom, as you know I don’t write often, I prefer reading and listening to others...but when I start....c’est bon stop

Bonne journée

Mariam

Hi Mariam,

Hope all is well with you and yours.  

I thought you might not have seen the recent UNICEF article on the followup to the attack in Mopti.  

Here is the article:

https://xunicefnewsandviews.blogspot.com/2019/04/followup-on-mopti-mali.html

We try to keep XUNICEF members aware of crises facing children and the work of UNICEF on the XUNICEF website, which is located at;

https://xunicefnewsandviews.blogspot.com/

We also have there two photo archives - one of retiree reunions, and a new one of UNICEF at work, where we are trying to collect photos of our working years.  So far, the only major contribution has been by the staff of former Yugoslavia during the war years.  If you or your colleagues have any old photos of those days, we would want to add whatever you can share.   

If you have any news available locally, let us know, as we want to cover items that do not necessarily appear in UN or UNICEF releases or the mainstream media.  We particularly want to improve our coverage in French and Spanish.  

Best regards,

Tom