US Ambassador Robert Krueger:
World Leaders in AfricaBlessed are the merciful.
The late Ambassador Robert Krueger was appointed US ambassador to Burundi in May 1994 in the aftermath of the Rwandese genocide, in which up to one million people died. The genocide would also spin the world’s biggest refugee camp, at that time, of one million refugees in the DRC. However, not all the refugees fled to the DRC; some went to Burundi.
In his memoirs From Bloodshed to Hope in Burundi, he discusses an unusual encounter with a Rwandese refugee when he visited a United Nations camp for
Rwandan refugees who had fled the genocide. As he toured the facility with the camp supervisor, one refugee called Marie particularly drew his attention. She had ‘stitch marks surrounding a huge scar, beginning at the upper right corner of her forehead, crossing her right eye, which had been stitched permanently shut, then extending into her cheek.‘ The stitches were’ large Xs as if designed for a horror movie.’ As she stood holding her infant child, he saw that her hand had no fingers, only a thumb. A machete had sliced off the other four fingers.
Krueger was told that during the genocide, her village had been attacked at night and torched by the marauding Hutu militia (Interahamwe), killing her husband and three of her children. She had, however, managed to escape with her baby but was later captured by her attackers in the forest. This is where she was horribly cut, disfigured, and mutilated. Despite bleeding profusely, she had managed to walk 50 miles to Burundi with her daughter to seek refuge.
Krueger then asked if there was anything he ‘might’ do for her:
She responded that she wanted to go home to her village. By now, it was safe.
“What prevents you from going?” I asked.
“I have no money for a bus ticket,” she replied.
“What does a ticket cost?” I asked.
“About 750 Burundi francs,” was the reply.
Krueger was stunned that she could go home for just $3. He reached into his pockets and found just over 5,000 Burundi francs. He called the supervisor aside and asked her to buy Marie a ticket and give her the balance.
When he returned home, he received a call from a friend, Jim Sale, a stockbroker based in Dallas, Texas, who wanted to know how he was getting on. When Krueger informed him about his encounter with Marie, Jim spontaneously offered to send him £500 to help more refugees return home. Krueger would come back two weeks later with 100,000 francs, divided into envelopes containing 2,500 francs for each refugee, along with a slip of paper bearing the following message:
This donation is given to assist you in returning to your home in Rwanda
from an American citizen who recognises that all people are children of
God and all are brothers and sisters. His name is Jim Sale and his address is 200 Crescent Court, Suite 500, Dallas, Texas 75201.
This is a remarkable story about the impact that sharing stories can have on others who may want to identify with and support your cause. It also brings out the human side of a highly scripted profession. The Ambassador did not ask for a proposal or referees. That would not have been easy with her fingers sliced off. He wanted to know from her, in her own words, how he could help. Her response stunned him, and so did his. And even more so that of ‘the American citizen who recognises that all people are children of God, and all are brothers and sisters.’
Ambassador Krueger was born on September 19, 1935. He was a former US.
Representative and US Senator from Texas before he was appointed US Ambassador to Burundi and later Botswana. He earned a B.A. from Southern Methodist University in 1957, an M.A. from Duke University in 1958, and a D.Phil. in English literature from Oxford University. He died on April 30, 2022.