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THREE United Nations soldiers were wounded at Kigali airport in Rwanda
yesterday in what the Red Cross said was a violent exchange of fire
between rebels and government troops.
Planned peace talks failed to start in Tanzania because the rebels, who
are mainly minority Tutsis, refused to talk to the Hutu-dominated
interim government. At the same time it is becoming clear that, despite
calls from aid agencies for intervention, America, Britain and France
favour an African solution
to the country's bloodbath. A high-level
US delegation was heading last night for Addis Ababa, the Ethiopian
capital, for talks with African leaders about Rwanda. The delegation,
led by John Shattuck, an Assistant Secretary of State, will also visit
Tanzania.
Boutros Boutros Ghali, the UN Secretary-General, has already asked the
Organisation of African Unity to send peacekeepers to end the genocide.
But it is an appeal likely to fall on deaf ears.
Nigeria, currently holding the presidency of the UN Security Council,
and Ghana, for instance, continue to pay the price for intervening in
Liberia in 1990. Nigerian Treasury funds have been almost halved by the
operation and to little avail.
It was reported yesterday that 60,000 Liberians fleeing the fighting
between rival factions in southeast Liberia are short of food. No aid
has so far reached them.
Of Rwanda's immediate neighbours, only Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania have
fully functioning governments. But they are the least likely to try to
intervene in the conflict.
The rebel Rwanda Patriotic Front, in any event, has made clear that it
thinks a foreign force would freeze the current situation, as would a
ceasefire.
Tanzania intervened in Uganda at the end of Idi Amin's rule, but it is
now struggling with radical economic reforms and its small army is
ill-equipped for a job that would require a large number of men. Kenya,
on the other hand, has a firm policy of staying well away from military
activities beyond its borders.
In the end, perhaps only Zimbabwe and Botswana might be persuaded to
play a role in intervention, but only if a peacekeeping mission to
Rwanda were to be led by a Western power.
By Sam Kiley, Africa Correspondent.
