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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