Citation
LONDON, April 22 (Reuter) - Two of Britain's biggest aid agencies on
Friday condemned a United Nations decision to withdraw all but a
skeleton force of peacekeepers from Rwanda.
The U.N. Security Council decided on Thursday to slash its force in
Rwanda to a minimum of 270 troops -- despite fears it would only
increase the carnage in the central African state.
Rwanda has been plunged into a tribal bloodbath since President Juvenal
Habyarimana was killed in a rocket attack on his plane on April 6.
Hundreds of thousands of people are believed to have been slaughtered
in the conflict.
We are outraged at this short-sighted, callous decision,
Oxfam
Director David Bryar said in a statement. He urged the United Nations
to reverse its decision to slash the force to a tenth of its former
strength.
In a separate statement Christian Aid said the move would lead to
increased bloodletting among the majority Hutu and minority Tutsi
tribes in the former Belgian colony.
The decision to withdraw the U.N. troops means that the fighting will
spread unchecked and thousands more will be murdered and have their
homes destroyed,
Christian Aid's Rwanda Project Officer Abiy Hailu
said.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) warned on Thursday
it would be a mistake for the U.N. forces to pull out, adding it had
rarely witnessed massacres on such a scale.
(c) Reuters Limited 1994
