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FT 11 APR 94 / Western troops in Rwanda rescue
By LESLIE CRAWFORD and Agencies
NAIROBI, KIGALI
France, Belgium and the US were last night rescuing expatriates from Rwanda
in central Africa, where thousands of people have been killed in tribal
massacres after the president's death in an air crash last Wednesday.
French troops secured the airport outside Kigali, the capital, on Saturday
to evacuate some 600 French nationals living in Rwanda. US Marines were sent
to neighbouring Burundi to assist Americans fleeing overland in a long
convoy of cars.
Belgian paratroops were reported to have landed in Kigali last night, after
the Rwandan army lifted its objection to the arrival of the former colonial
power.
Tribal tensions between the majority Hutu and the Tutsi people led to an
ethnic bloodbath when the government accused guerrillas from the Tutsi-led
Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) of shooting down the aircraft of the
president, Gen Juvenal Habyarimana. President Cyprien Ntaryamira of
neighbouring Burundi was also killed in the crash.
A force of 4,000 RPF soldiers was reported to be marching towards Kigali to
free the battalion pinned down by government troops, and their arrival may
lead to escalation of the fighting.
About 1,500 Belgians live in the small central African state, and there were
fears in Brussels that the violence might turn into an anti-Belgian
movement. There were apparently rumours circulating in Rwanda that Belgians
were responsible for shooting down the presidential aircraft.
'We have a duty to restore order,' Ms Christine Umotoni, an RPF official,
said. 'We cannot leave innocent civilians to be butchered by lawless gangs
and renegade members of the presidential guard.'
Thousands have already met that fate. Despite Rwanda's history of genocide,
the scale of the massacre has shocked relief workers. The International
Committee for the Red Cross says tens of thousands of bodies are lying in
the streets and houses of the capital.
Ambulances venture out during lulls in the fighting to rescue the wounded.
'Each trip is an adventure,' said a Red Cross doctor.
Medecins Sans Frontieres, the medical charity, said it was evacuating its
Belgian staff because of the anti-Belgian sentiment in the capital.
A new government was named at the weekend, but it has not succeeded in
gaining control of rampaging troops, and its authority has been rejected by
the RPF.
Countries:-
RWZ Rwanda, Africa.
FRZ France, EC.
BEZ Belgium, EC.
USZ United States of America.
Industries:-
P9721 International Affairs.
P9229 Public Order and Safety, NEC.
Types:-
NEWS General News.
The Financial Times
London Page 6