FBIS4-1170
"drafr079_a_94017"
FBIS-AFR-94-079
Daily Report
23 Apr 1994
CENTRAL AFRICA
Rwanda
RPF Declares Unilateral Cease-Fire for 25 Apr
RPF Declares Unilateral Cease-Fire for 25 Apr
Sets Conditions
AB2304143394 Paris AFP in English 1425 GMT 23 Apr 94
AB2304143394
Paris AFP
English
BFN
[Text] Arusha, Tanzania, April 23 (AFP) -- Rwandan rebels
declared a unilateral ceasefire from midnight (2100 GMT) Monday
[25 April] ahead of peace talks to open here later Saturday, but
said it would only hold if the government agreed to end ethnic
bloodletting. A "unilateral declaration of ceasefire" signed by
rebel Rwanda Patriotic Front chairman Alexis Kanyarengwe and
issued in this northern Tanzanian town blamed the massacres of
tens of thousands of Rwandans on the "presidential guard, armed
civilians and militias."
It called for a "cessation of hostilities" to get food and
medicine to tens or possibly hundreds of thousands of displaced
people and "bring this conflict to a peaceful settlement."
The death of President Juvenal Habyarimana in a mysterious
April 6 plane crash triggered an ethnic bloodbath and rekindled
the three-year civil war.
The rebel declaration said the ceasefire would be
conditional
on the government forces "controlling all killings and acts of
violence in areas under their control within 96 hours of the
coming into force of this declaration." Another condition was
that the government forces accept an international inquiry into
the killings and allow those found responsible to be punished.
It also made the end of fighting dependent on the government
forces agreeing to joint security patrols with the rebels to
stop atrocities.
It also said the government must agree to joint control of
the airport and safe corridors for humanitarian aid.