Kim Wilkie (Swan, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to support this motion to change the classification of peacekeeping service in Rwanda from 1994 to 1996 to ‘warlike’ from its current status as ‘hazardous’. I would also like to commend the member for Bruce, all other members of this House who have supported this motion and the government for taking action following its presentation.

It is also in the best interests of all those who served in Rwanda that support for this motion has come from both sides of the parliament. Over 600 Australian personnel served in Rwanda as part of the United Nations mission in Rwanda. Australia has participated in peacekeeping activities all over the world, and our troops are renowned for their humanitarian approach, their generosity and their courage.

The circumstances in which our troops served in Rwanda were often difficult and traumatic and were very certainly dangerous. The main function of the Australian troops sent to Rwanda was to protect the Australian Medical Support Force, which was providing medical and surgical facilities to support the UN military forces and agencies.

Two separate contingents of 300 soldiers were sent. But they were not allowed, under the rules of engagement, to intervene in any tribal warfare or to stop the violence. Paul Jordan, who served with the Australian forces in Rwanda, has written an eye witness account for the UN on the experiences of the Australian forces at the Kibeho displaced persons camp in 1995.

The camp had been surrounded by two battalions of Tutsi troops from the Rwandan Patriotic Army, the RPA, which regarded it as a sanctuary for the Hutus who had massacred the Tutsis in 1994. Their aim was to empty the camp and, in so doing, the Hutus were vulnerable to revenge attacks by the RPA. I urge all members with an interest in this issue to read Mr Jordan’s account. I do not believe that anybody who reads it would continue to support the denial of ‘warlike’ status to our soldiers who served in Rwanda. Again, I am pleased that the government has changed that view.

Mr Jordan explains that over less than a week, in April 1995, Australian soldiers were sent to Kibeho to protect the medical staff who were providing medical assistance to refugees. RPA troops were in the camp and the refugees had been forced to congregate in a particular part of the camp. RPA troops would frequently fire into the air in an effort to control the crowds of frightened people. Tension was mounting between the RPA troops and the refugees and there were reports of killings in the camp.

As the days passed, the Australians in the camp would offer what help they could, but it was clear that refugees were being summarily shot and that the RPA troops were intent on killing as many as they could. Over one weekend alone, our troops estimated that over 4,000 people had been massacred at the camp. I have met personally with some of the Australians who served in the camp at this time and I cannot do justice to their accounts in the short time I have to speak on this motion. But I would like to mention some of the instances that they have recounted.

For example, three men were on a patrol outside the camp, trying to find where people may have been attacked. They came across a couple of huts. They were going through the grass and a small boy came out and said to them, ‘If you don’t move quickly, you’re about to be shot.’ At that point they dived for cover and the wall of one of the huts erupted in a hail of machinegun fire from a 50-calibre Russian machinegun that was concealed. Fortunately, our people were not hit, but they were stuck there for seven to eight hours, whilst they had to wait for darkness in the mud to try to get out. Bullets from a 50-calibre machinegun, as you know Mr Deputy Speaker, are large—they are not small calibre weapons. They were hitting our troops in their equipment. One of our guys had his backpack ripped off his back by this machinegun fire. So they were clearly under enormous pressure.

The soldiers also witnessed awesome atrocities at the camp, with mothers throwing their children over the fence so they could be protected by the troops. Those outside were being slaughtered in front of these soldiers’ eyes, and there was nothing they could do to prevent this from happening because of the rules of engagement. I am sure that that would have caused enormous trauma and suffering for those people and for the soldiers, who knew that they could do nothing to prevent the senseless slaughter.

It was clear that our soldiers were operating in a warlike situation, in considerable danger and witnessing cruel and barbaric acts. There are many examples of situations in which our soldiers were fired upon and in which they were in danger from hostile forces. It is hard for those of us who have not been to Rwanda to understand the danger our men and women faced or the horror that they endured. As a result, many Australian veterans of Rwanda have been found to be suffering from post traumatic stress disorder.

There are figures that indicate that 31 per cent of Vietnam veterans suffered from PTSD. Twenty per cent of those in Rwanda suffered the same sort of illness. These figures show the reason why we need to provide full recognition. I welcome the fact that people can get some medical assistance now as a result of that classification. It is clear to me that the government’s recognition of these veterans as having served in a war zone is long overdue. I commend the member for Bruce for bringing forward this motion, the government for finally acting and those who gave so much in the quest for peace. (Time expired)

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