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BRUSSELS, April 12 (AFP) - The European Union called on the Rwandan authorities here Tuesday to seek a political settlement to the tribal was which exploded last Thursday.
The EU urged the authorities to "safeguard the achievements of the Arusha agreements" reached last August -- a programme for reconciliation between rival Hutu and Tutsi communities that were to lead to free elections by 1995.
In a statement, the EU appealed "in the strongest terms for the lives of Rwandese and foreign nationals to be protected as they work together within Rwanda to safeguard its internal peace."
It also called for an international commission of inquiry into the air crash overe Kigali last Wednesday in which Rwandan President Juvenal Habyarimana and Burundi President Cyprien Ntaryamira were killed.
The aircraft was reportedly shot down. The crash triggered a wave of carnage pitting the majority Hutus against minority Tutsis in which many thousands of people have been reported killed.
The EU also condemned the "appalling assassinations" of 16 Belgians -- six civilians and 10 members of UN forces in Rwanda -- during the violence in Kigali.
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