Citation
BRUSSELS, April 14 (Reuter) - Belgium started two days of mourning on
Thursday for 16 of its nationals killed in Rwanda as the evacuation of
Belgians from its former colony neared an end.
Belgium has also decided to withdraw some 400 troops serving with
2,500-strong U.N. force in Rwanda.
Defence Minister Leo Delcroix said on Belgian radio the troops could
take several weeks to leave. Paratroopers sent to evacuate nationals
are expected to leave within a few days.
We're in Rwanda with quite a bit of materiel. As a result it will take
a few days at least to get the logistic operation behind us, and for
the whole (withdrawal) perhaps a few weeks,
Delcroix told Belgian BRTN
radio.
United Nations Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali said on
Wednesday he had called for plans to be drawn up for a possible
withdrawal of the U.N. force in Rwanda in the light of a decision by
Belgium to pull out its 440-man contingent.
The Belgian government said flags would fly at half mast from Thursday
to midday Saturday.
A military honours ceremony was attended by King Albert and government
members to pay homage to 10 Belgian paratroops killed in Kigali last
week as an orgy of bloodletting swept the capital following the death
of the president.
The country's barracks will observe a minute of silence for the dead
soldiers, who were killed trying in vain to protect the Rwandan prime
minister. Six Belgian civilians were also killed in the violence.
The Belgian daily De Standaard described the withdrawal from Rwanda as
Belgium's Saigon,
referring to the U.S. withdrawal from Vietnam in
1975. There were an estimated 1,500 Belgians in Rwanda, forming the
largest group of Westerners.
An army spokesman said there were practically no more Belgian civilians
left in Rwanda but paratroops were still searching for any few
remaining Westerners outside the capital.
Le Soir described how six Belgians and two Dutch were evacuated by
Belgian paratroops from a mental hospital outside Kigali where they had
taken refuge with hundreds of peasants, wounded and mentally ill
patients.
Soldiers have been firing on the building since last Thursday. We have
nothing to eat, there are wounded and dead people. We are living with
the insane and there is no medicine,
Le Soir quoted one of the Rwandan
refugees as saying.
(c) Reuters Limited 1994
