Citation
BRUSSELS, April 16 (Reuter) - Belgium said on Saturday it had sent more
troops than previously announced to war-torn Rwanda for the evacuation
of its nationals and other foreigners.
About 750 (Belgian troops) took part in the evacuation in Rwanda,
colonel Gilbert Hertoghe told Reuters. Another 200 extra troops were on
standby in Nairobi, Kenya, he said.
Belgium had maintained it had sent just 400 paratroops for the
evacuation, which started when violence flared after President Juvenal
Habyarimana was killed in a rocket attack on his plane 10 days ago.
There were 1,500 Belgians in Rwanda.
Army officials said they had kept silent about the extra troops because
Rwanda had only given permission to send in 400 Belgian paratroops.
The obvious reason why we held on to the figure of 400 is that we did
not want to offend anyone in Rwanda,
said an official who declined to
be named. He said the troops might stay for a few days in Nairobi to
observe carefully
.
We still have 420 blue helmets in Kigali,
he said.
Belgium, the former colonial power in Rwanda, said earlier this week it
would withdraw its 420 U.N. troops from Rwanda and urged the United
Nations to suspend its peacekeeping operation there.
Ten Belgian U.N. peacekeepers and six civilians were among the
thousands of people butchered in an orgy of bloodletting, mostly
between members of the minority Tutsi tribe and the Hutu, who
controlled the Habyarimana government.
The United Nations has not taken any decision on the future of the
2,500-man U.N. Assistance Mission for Rwanda (UNAMIR), set up last year
to help implement an agreement signed in Arusha, Tanzania, aimed at
ending a three-year civil war.
(c) Reuters Limited 1994
