Citation
BRUSSELS, April 8 (Reuter) - Belgium put paratroops on alert to
evacuate foreigners from its former African colony of Rwanda on Friday
after 10 Belgian soldiers were killed trying in vain to protect the
country's prime minister.
After an emergency cabinet meeting, the government urged the United
Nations to take stronger security measures for U.N. forces in Rwanda
and said it had decided on unspecified measures to guarantee the safety
of Belgian nationals there.
The government said it was giving no details because it wanted to
protect lives.
The government is extremely worried about the deterioration of the
situation in Rwanda and particularly about the threats against Belgian
nationals,
its statement said.
The commander of the Belgian U.N. peacekeepers in Rwanda said on
Belgian state radio RTBF that a ceasefire was being negotiated between
the warring sides and ought to come into effect by 6.30 a.m (0430 GMT)
on Saturday morning.
Colonel Luc Marchal said fighting between government forces and Rwandan
Patriotic Front (RPF) rebels continued on Friday afternoon as both
sides appeared to be seeking to improve their territorial positions
ahead of a ceasefire.
In Paris, military sources said France was considering using troops
stationed in the Central African Republic to evacuate its 600 nationals
from Rwanda.
Belgium has about 1,500 nationals in Rwanda. Government sources earlier
said it would be up to them to decide if they wanted to leave.
A spokesman for Belgian national airline Sabena said a Boeing 737 plane
would be on standby in Entebbe, Uganda, on Friday night for the
possible evacuation of foreigners.
Rwanda's capital, Kigali, was plunged into an orgy of ethnic violence
and looting after the presidents of Burundi and Rwanda were killed on
Wednesday when a rocket hit their plane.
There is continuous fighting, there is pillaging and killing...Things
have got completely out of hand,
Belgian radio correspondent Katrien
Van der Schoot said from Kigali.
Rwanda, one of the smallest and poorest African states, has suffered
from a civil war along tribal lines for four years.
A defence ministry spokesman said two battalions of Belgian paratroops
-- 800 men -- were on alert for a possible evacuation, which could be
carried out in cooperation with French forces.
He said the first troops could leave later on Friday and be in Rwanda
by noon local time on Saturday if the government gave the go-ahead.
France has put 8,600 troops at bases in central and western Africa on
alert.
Extra troops would have to be sent for any rescue mission because a
2,500-strong U.N. force in Rwanda has no mandate to protect or evacuate
foreign nationals.
Belgium, which built up a huge empire in central Africa in the 19th
century, has often sent paratroops to restore order or rescue nationals
since it gave up colonies such as Zaire and Rwanda. Rwanda became
independent in 1962.
Belgian Prime Minister Jean-Luc Dehaene cut short a holiday in Malta to
return to Brussels on Friday.
The Belgian armed forces said in a statement the 10 dead soldiers, part
of the U.N. force, were disarmed and executed by Rwandan troops at a
military camp in Kigali on Thursday.
The Belgians had been protecting Prime Minister Agathe Unilingyimana,
whose residence was surrounded. The Belgian soldiers were taken
prisoner as they tried to cover her flight and she was killed.
Colonel Luc Marchal earlier told Belgian radio the bodies of the dead
soldiers were now in a Kigali hospital and would be flown home.
(c) Reuters Limited 1994
