Philippe Gaillard

Philippe Gaillard (ur. 1965 w Valais) – wieloletni pracownik Międzynarodowego Komitetu Czerwonego Krzyża (ICRC).

Życiorys[edytuj | edytuj kod]

Studiował literaturę na uniwersytetach w Genevie, Freiburg-in-Breisgau i Salamance. Od 1982 roku pracownik ICRC, pracujący najpierw na Bliskim Wschodzie i w Ameryce Łacińskiej a od 1993 roku w Rwandzie jako szef tamtejszej delegacji. Kiedy w kwietniu 1994 roku rozpoczęło się tam ludobójstwo, z niezwykłą determinacją walczył o życie ofiar. Założył improwizowany szpital, gdzie znalazły bezpieczny azyl tysiące Rwandyjczyków. Doprowadził do faktycznego uznania nietykalności ambulansów Czerwonego Krzyża przez bojówki Interahamwe. Ratował dzieci z rwandyjskich sierocińców. Według szacunkowych danych ocalono dzięki temu życie ponad 60 000 osób^[1]. Wciąż pracuje dla ICRC.

Po wydarzeniach z 1994 roku wielokrotnie mówił o obojętności świata wobec ludobójstwa w Rwandzie. Sam przekazywał informacje politykom i mediom na temat rozmiarów katastrofy, dlatego za niedorzeczne uważa tłumaczenie zachodu, iż nie wiedział, jaki zasięg ma ludobójstwo. Sam Gaillard, w maju 1994 roku, na pytanie dziennikarza BBC o rozmiary katastrofy powiedział: "Proszę posłuchać, po pół milionie [ofiar] przestałem liczyć"^[2].

Gaillard podczas ratowania Rwandyjczyków współpracował z gen. Roméo Dallairem, głównodowodzącym wojskami ONZ w Rwandzie (UNAMiR). Sam nazywa go swoim przyjacielem. Dallaire zaś wspomina o ich codziennych rozmowach radiowych i określa go "absolutnym aniołem stróżem międzynarodowej społeczności"^[3]. W trakcie konfliktu Gaillard, by ratować ofiary ludobójstwa, pertraktował z przywódcami Hutu. Słynne jest jego spotkanie z pułkowikiem Théonestem Bagosorą, określonym przez Dallaira słowem "Lufycer"^[4].

Po ludobójstwie i powrocie do domu, zdecydował się z żoną, po siedmiu latach małżeństwa, na dziecko. Jak sam napisał: To było tak oczywiste dla niej, dla mnie, że po tym doświadczeniu chcieliśmy stworzyć życie. I to było takie piękne. Moje dzieci będą to wiedziały, odkryją to, ale nigdy nie będę potrafił wyjaśnić mojemu synowi, że jest wynikiem ludobójstwa. To nie jest łatwe do wyjaśnienia^[5].

Zobacz też[edytuj | edytuj kod]

Carl Wilkens

Przypisy[edytuj | edytuj kod]

↑ https://archive.is/20130503090140/http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/ghosts/interviews/gaillard.html "I think it's something between 60,000 and 70,000 people. Ten thousand people were taken care of in our hospital. Hundreds if not thousands of orphans were saved by us or because of our initiative. … We had a makeshift hospital also in [a town] close to Gitarama, and there were altogether 35,000 people there. … We knew that they took wounded people out of the hospital and killed them. I think hundreds of them were killed, but still it's 35,000, less some hundreds…". Wciąż pracuje dla ICRC.
↑ https://archive.is/20130503090140/http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/ghosts/interviews/gaillard.html "About numbers, I remember a couple of funny phone calls from BBC London who made the first call around the 20th of April asking me the same question, "What's your estimation of the number of people killed?" and I told them at least 250,000. One week later they called again and asked me, "What's your estimation today?" So I told them, "You can double it. Five hundred thousand people have been killed." One week later they made a last call about this very specific question … and I answered, "Listen, after half a million, sir, I stopped counting." This was broadcast … in the beginning of May. Everybody knew every day, live, what was happening in this country. You could follow that every day on TV, on radio."
↑ https://archive.is/20130113050221/http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/ghosts/interviews/dallaire.html "Now there is an absolute guardian angel of the world community, I think the purest of what one expects the Red Cross to be: courageous, determined, gutsy, brash, an intimate leader, very close to his troops, to his people, will not back down, argumentative, pig-headed, but the heart of an angel. Humanity for him is all humans."
↑ https://archive.is/20130113050221/http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/ghosts/interviews/dallaire.html "I was totally overcome by the evil. These three guys just brought it into reality, brought evil into reality and by my religious background, the only way I could qualify that was being the devil. That son of a bitch had come on earth, in that paradise, and literally taken over. And these three guys were the right hand people of Lucifer himself, Bagosora."
↑ https://archive.is/20130503090140/http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/ghosts/interviews/gaillard.html "It was so evident for her, for me, that after this experience we both wanted to create life. And it is so beautiful. [My children] will know it, they will discover it, [but] I would never explain to my son that he was a product of a genocide. That's not easy to explain."

[1] ttps://archive.is/20130503090140/http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/ghosts/interviews/gaillard.html "I think it's something between 60,000 and 70,000 people. Ten thousand people were taken care of in our hospital. Hundreds if not thousands of orphans were saved by us or because of our initiative. … We had a makeshift hospital also in [a town] close to Gitarama, and there were altogether 35,000 people there. … We knew that they took wounded people out of the hospital and killed them. I think hundreds of them were killed, but still it's 35,000, less some hundreds…". Wciąż pracuje dla ICRC.

[2] ttps://archive.is/20130503090140/http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/ghosts/interviews/gaillard.html "About numbers, I remember a couple of funny phone calls from BBC London who made the first call around the 20th of April asking me the same question, "What's your estimation of the number of people killed?" and I told them at least 250,000. One week later they called again and asked me, "What's your estimation today?" So I told them, "You can double it. Five hundred thousand people have been killed." One week later they made a last call about this very specific question … and I answered, "Listen, after half a million, sir, I stopped counting." This was broadcast … in the beginning of May. Everybody knew every day, live, what was happening in this country. You could follow that every day on TV, on radio."

[3] ttps://archive.is/20130113050221/http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/ghosts/interviews/dallaire.html "Now there is an absolute guardian angel of the world community, I think the purest of what one expects the Red Cross to be: courageous, determined, gutsy, brash, an intimate leader, very close to his troops, to his people, will not back down, argumentative, pig-headed, but the heart of an angel. Humanity for him is all humans."

[4] ttps://archive.is/20130113050221/http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/ghosts/interviews/dallaire.html "I was totally overcome by the evil. These three guys just brought it into reality, brought evil into reality and by my religious background, the only way I could qualify that was being the devil. That son of a bitch had come on earth, in that paradise, and literally taken over. And these three guys were the right hand people of Lucifer himself, Bagosora."

[5] ttps://archive.is/20130503090140/http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/ghosts/interviews/gaillard.html "It was so evident for her, for me, that after this experience we both wanted to create life. And it is so beautiful. [My children] will know it, they will discover it, [but] I would never explain to my son that he was a product of a genocide. That's not easy to explain."

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