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Thousands of bodies were seen lying in the streets of Kigali, the
Rwandan capital, yesterday after a two-day orgy of violence and looting
following the deaths of the presidents of Rwanda and the neighbouring
republic of Burundi.
The Belgian government was leading attempts to assemble an international
force to go to its former colony, where the commander of a Belgian UN
peacekeeping contingent said last night a ceasefire was being negotiated.
The president of the UN Security Council, Colin Keating, reporting an
improvement in the situation, said early today an agreement had been
reached on a ceasefire. He added that various factions had agreed on the
appointment of an interim government, and had chosen a president, prime
minister and five ministers.
But it appeared that the priority of any foreign operation would be to
airlift foreigners, not to disarm forces which have been using weapons
ranging from machetes to artillery.
The US, whose ambassador's residence is under attack, ordered Americans
to leave Rwanda and made plans for an evacuation, the US deputy
assistant secretary of state, Prudence Bushnell, told a State Department
news briefing. And Canada will send a military transport plane to
evacuate about 200 Canadian citizens, foreign ministry officials said.
An International Red Cross official who saw the bodies littering the
streets also reported finding about 350 bodies at the central hospital
and the Vatican ambassador in Kigali said that at least 25 Rwandan
priests and nuns have been murdered.
In one incident, soldiers entered a religious centre, locked six priests
and nine novice nuns in a room and then killed them. Two Belgian Jesuits
were spared.
Belgium was talking to France, the US and the UN about a joint military
operation to take and hold Kigali airport.
Belgian paratroops were standing by and 8,000 French troops in the
Central African Republic were on alert. At least 10 Belgian UN soldiers
were killed by the rebel forces on Thursday after the aircraft carrying
the Rwandan and Burundian leaders back from peace talks was brought down
by unknown assailants.
A French serviceman and his wife, among several hundred French nationals
in Kigali, have also been killed, Radio France Internationale reported.
As Rwandan soldiers pursued their mission of vengeance for what they
regard as Wednesday's assassination of President Juvenal Habyarimana,
the dead were also found in people's gardens, according to the chief
delegate to the International Committee of the Red Cross, Philippe
Gaillard, who was able to tour some of the city.
'Many others have been wounded, but the hospital can't cope,' he said.
'Only one surgeon is working. There are already 350 bodies in the
hospital morgue.'
Another eyewitness spoke of people dumping bodies outside the hospital
morgue.
Mr Gaillard said the soldiers roaming Kigali's streets and setting up
roadblocks were respecting the emblem of the Red Cross and allowing
teams to move around the city.
Aid agencies reported that refugees were beginning to flee into
neighbouring countries after dozens of reports of atrocities, many
attributed to the presidential guard, but some allegedly committed by
bands of lawless armed youths.
It is not clear why religious communities are being targeted. Soldiers
who belong to the late President Habyarimana's majority Hutu tribe have
been going from house to house kidnapping and killing minority Tutsis,
but the priests and nuns were said to be of both tribes.
Nor is it clear who is a Hutu and who is a Tutsi. A Rwandan journalist,
Nestor Serushago, described how youths armed with knives attacked a
young couple with a baby, because, although they were Hutus, they looked
like Tutsis.
People who support political parties which opposed the late president
are also being targeted. A local aidworker said three members of her
family who supported the opposition Liberal Party were taken from their
homes and killed.
A spokesman for the UN peacekeeping force in Kigali said the fighting
had been between members of the rebel Rwanda Patriotic Front and troops
of the presidential guard.
However, other sources said that the three sections of the security
forces - the gendarmes, the army and the presidential guard - had also
been fighting among themselves.
As dusk fell, military chiefs and the few politicians who had not gone
into hiding or been killed were still in a meeting. They were reported
to be trying to establish a crisis committee to run the country and
restore law and order.
Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2004
