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.