Have you ever seen the documentary on Roméo Dallaire’s time in Rwanda when he led the UNAMIR during the genocide? It’s “Shake hands with the devil”. Don’t miss it. It’s about his story trying to do his best in the middle of a massive murder comparable to the Shoah while no Western or African government wanted to move a finger. During those months he had the opportunity to not only shake hands but cooperate with the ‘devils’.
I’m lucky because I had the opportunity to have the same experience this week when I met one of the former officials and Belgian aristocrat who personally signed the order to get read of Lumumba. Funnily enough he is now a champion of Europe leading a top Brussels-based think-tank and he was speaking alongside a former Rwandan fighter who followed Kagame in ’94 and toppled down Mobutu – the replacement of Lumumba – in ’98. The two enemies reunited at the same conference in Brussels, politely smiling to each other.
This is not the first time I have shaken hands with the devil and if you do this job internationally you must be ready to deal with any sort of people. On my first trip to Serbia I was almost arrested by the police. It was in 2001 and the Serbian police weren’t exactly friendly. We were in the aftermath of the NATO bombings and the first foreigners in town. At the last minute I was saved by a guy I had met in the morning. He was a colonel and body guard of Milosevic. Despite being a killing machine he wanted me to take him to Italy. His dream was to be my housekeeper.
Another time, I was with Benny in Nairobi. We had organised a workshop during the World Social Forum in 2005. There were several interesting delegates including the wife of the former Nigerian Ambassador in the States, Ms Keshi (nobody was allowed to call her by name). Even more interesting was a gigantic Nigerian from the Delta of Nigeria who turned out to be the leader of the rebellion. I must admit that he was very nice pretty useful because all the others were quiet while he was around. You know how messy a workshop in Nairobi can end up.
Naturally I coudn’t miss the former KGB agent has turned into an NGO leader. My American friends were shoked while I found it a simple career change. People are always so difficult when it comes to the Russians but I get along with these big guys who can really keep quiet when they start drinking vodka.
I’ve never had a probelm dealing with criminals – I even had dinner with the board members of RBS – but I can’t stand bureaucrats and civil servants, who are everywhere in Brussels. Unfortunately the town is infested both within and outside the institutions. I remember a representative of an Italian region who took the piss out of me because I work too much while he invented 1000 tricks to avoid doing work. I took a mattress in to his office so he could sleep all day.
Those are the real monsters who are transofmring Europe in to a stupid gigantic machine exsisting just to perpetuate their benefits. They could turn me into a devil. I would love being their Robespierre!
