Combat medic: an Australian's eyewitness account of the Kibeho massacre.
Just before ANZAC Day 1995, a small number of Australian soldiers, including Terry Pickard, were at Kibeho refugee camp as part of the United Nations peacekeeping mission in Rwanda. At this place they witnessed the killing by Rwandan troops of at least 4,500 civilians as part of the newly-installed Rwandan government's policy of forcibly closing camps that it claimed were providing sanctuary for individuals implicated in the previous year's genocide that had killed about 800,000 Tutsi and moderate Hutu in 100 days.
The Australian, Dec '08
Review by: Review by Sarah Elks
Terry Pickard, 49, and his wife Nicole, 24, met in Brisbane while they were both receiving treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder. They talk to Sarah Elks.
Terry: I have no doubt that meeting Nicky saved my life. If I hadn’t met her, I would have died accidentally somehow in my car, in an alcoholic binge. It was inevitable. Nicky and I met in a psychiatric hospital, where we were both in-patients. We both have post-traumatic stress disorder, but for different reasons. I was a medic in the army, part of the United Nations’ peacekeeping force in Rwanda in 1995. I witnessed the massacre of thousands of men, women and children at a place called Kibeho, but because of the UN’s rules I wasn’t allowed to fire my weapon to defend the refugees.
Unusual Sources 93.3FM radio station interviews Terry Pickard.
Taylor Report, Nov '08
CIUT 89.5FM Canadian radio station interviews Terry Pickard.
Evenings with Steve Austin, Sept 08
Tonight the sobering story of an Australian Army medic who witnessed the massacre of 4,000 people in Rwanda in 1995. 32 Aussie soldiers were in Kibeho and were instructed by the United Nations not to intervene when it was clear that civilians were about to be slaughtered.
The story of Terry Pickard is compelling and thought provoking.
Australian Peacekeeper & Peacemaker Veterans' Association, Sept '08
Review by: Review by Gordon Traill, Iraq Veteran
“COMBAT MEDIC” ‘An Australian’s eyewitness account of the Kibeho Massacre’ by Terry Pickard
Combat Medic by Terry Pickard is an eyewitness account by an Australian Army Medic who was at the “Kibeho Massacre” in Rwanda. “Combat Medic” is a fascinating story and a journey of one man’s life, pre and post Rwanda. Pickard is vivid in his descriptions of what it was like to serve on a UN mission. He is critical of how people have judged Peacekeeping service and the lack of bravery awards handed out to members of UNAMIR at Kibeho.
Courier Mail, Sept '08
Review by: Review by Janelle Miles, Health Reporter
TERRY Pickard avoids butcher shops. The sight of raw meat triggers memories that haunt the former Australian Army medic.
Pickard was one of a 32-strong group of Australian peacekeepers in Rwanda who witnessed the mass slaughter of men, women and children on April 22, 1995. His recently released book, “Combat Medic” , details harrowing scenes of Rwandan civilians being hacked with machetes, shot at with machineguns, hit by rocket-propelled grenades or mortars, and bayoneted.
