FT942-3708 _AN-EFND1ABMFT 940614 FT 14 JUN 94 / France, South Africa and Egypt 'supplied Rwanda massacre arms' By LESLIE CRAWFORD NAIROBI France, South Africa and Egypt may have aided the slaughter of Tutsi civilians in Rwanda by providing weapons and military training to the Rwandan army and its militias, according to secret military documents obtained by Human Rights Watch, a non-governmental organisation which monitors the observance of human rights. Human Rights Watch believes the massacres, which have claimed more than 200,000 lives in just over eight weeks, were systematically planned for months in advance by extremists among the majority Hutu ethnic community. Hardline elements of the Rwandan military, unhappy at the prospect of sharing power with Tutsi rebels following the end of a three-year civil war, armed and trained paramilitary militias as they sought to delay the implementation of a peace agreement signed in August last year. While firearms were distributed to Hutu militia known as Interahamwe ('Those Who Attack Together'), a private radio station with close links to the government broadcast hate-filled propaganda against the Tutsi community, which make up 15 per cent of Rwanda's population. When United Nations soldiers arrived to monitor the Rwandan peace agreement, General Romeo Dallaire, the Canadian commander, says hand grenades could be bought in market stalls for a dollar. Once the slaughter began, following the death of President Juvenal Habyarimana in an air crash on April 6, hand grenades were thrown into schools and churches that had given refuge to Tutsi civilians. Militia leaders urged their members to fan out across the country and finish the nettoyage (cleaning up) of Tutsis and Hutu opponents of the Habyarimana dictatorship. 'The death of President Habyarimana. . . was the pretext for Hutu extremists from the late president's entourage to launch a campaign of genocide against the Tutsi,' Human Rights Watch says. 'Militia and military continue to make nightly visits to stadiums, church compounds and other locations were people at risk have taken refuge,' it continues. 'They remove groups of people to be executed. Anyone who is educated or has shown capacity for leadership is targeted for elimination.' Two reports published by the human rights group are particularly embarrassing for France, Rwanda's long-time military patron. Human Rights Watch says France provided weapons, armoured cars and helicopters, as well as military advisers and up to 680 troops to help the Rwandan government fight the rebel Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF). In addition, Human Rights Watch obtained confidential documents concerning a Dollars 6m (Pounds 4m) Egyptian arms sale to Rwanda which included landmines and plastic explosives, automatic rifles, long-range artillery and rocket launchers of the kind that are now pounding the capital Kigali. Under the agreement, Rwanda was to obtain a bank guarantee from a 'first class international bank' and pay the Dollars 6m into an Egyptian government account held at a London branch of Credit Lyonnais, the state-owned French bank. Mr Olivier Perrain, a spokesman for Credit Lyonnais, yesterday confirmed the existence of the account but said his institution had not provided the bank guarantee. 'Credit Lyonnais took no part in the transaction,' Mr Perrain said. Another invoice obtained by Human Rights Watch shows that South Africa's Armscor was also selling weapons to the Habyarimana government during Rwanda's civil war. Mr Tielman de Waal, Armscor general manager, says the sales stopped in October last year, when the war had officially ended. Less can be proved about the RPF's military sourcing. The RPF claims to have captured arms from the Rwandan government and bought others on the open market. Less credibly, it claims to have stolen weapons from the Ugandan army, to which many Rwandan exiles belonged. Major Paul Kagame, the RPF's top military commander, was Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni's chief intelligence officer before launching his own rebel movement. And despite repeated denials, it is an open secret in Uganda that Mr Museveni allowed the Rwandan rebels to use Ugandan territory as a sanctuary for the planning of attacks, stockpiling of weapons and movement of troops. Genocide in Rwanda April-May 1994, and Arming Rwanda. Human Rights Watch/Africa, 33 Islington High Street, London N1. Fax 071-713 1800 Countries:- FRZ France, EC. ZAZ South Africa, Africa. EGZ Egypt, Africa. KEZ Kenya, Africa. RWZ Rwanda, Africa. Industries:- P9721 International Affairs. Types:- NEWS General News. The Financial Times London Page 6