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Home | About Us | About the Case Method | ICCMP Services | Search Site |
On Wednesday, 6 April 1994, second-tour Foreign Service Officer Pamela Smith was the State Department Duty Officer for the US Embassy in Kigali, Rwanda. Then 26 years old, Pamela had sought the assignment to Kigali because she hoped that in a small Embassy she would acquire experience at a wider range of Department functions and have greater autonomy than as a member of a larger staff. Pamela and her husband Jack arrived in Rwanda in August 1993.
The Embassy staff in Kigali consisted of seven other officers, including the Ambassador, the Deputy Chief of Mission (DCM), an administrative officer, a General Services Officer (GSO), two communicators, and a secretary. Ambassador David Rawon had been raised in a missionary family in Rwanda and spoke the local language fluently. Pamela was the consular officer and also served as the econ/commercial officer and military security assistance officer. The Embassy community also included 10 personnel from the Agency for International Development (AID) and a public affairs specialist from the US Information Service (USIS). There was no Marine Security Guard detachment. The Regional Security Officer (RSO) was based in Bujumbura, Burundi, and visited the post in Kigali periodically. The defense attaché - US Army Lt. Col. Mike Kalinowski - visted Kigali three times annually from his post in Yaounde, Cameroon. After his arrival in Kigali, Jack Smith was hired on a local contract as the assistant GSO.
At this time there were 258 Americans in Rwanda, most of them members of missionary groups. There were also some personnel from nongovernmental organizations that did not have a religious affiliation, and a few representatives of private firms. Some 60 American children attended the Kigali International School. In April 1994, the admin officer was on leave, and the AID director had recently departed the post. Colonel Kalinowski had just arrived for a one-week visit.