Citation
KIGALI, April 7 (AFP) - The presidents of Rwanda and Burundi, Juvenal
Habyarimana and Cyprien Ntaryamira, were killed in a plane crash at the
airport here in the Rwandan capital late Wednesday, the French embassy
said.
The embassy said none of the dozen people on the plane survived the
crash.
The embassy also said it was unclear if the plane had been shot down or
had crashed accidentally. Witnesses reported hearing heavy weapons fire
near the airport.
The plane was bringing the presidents back from a meeting with other
African leaders in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania on means to curb ethnic
violence in Rwanda and Burundi.
In Brussels, the Belga news agency quoted the Rwandan ambassador there
as saying the Rwandan presidential plane was shot down while
approaching the airport and had burned to a cinder.
A United Nations offficial here reported that there had been an
explosion near the airport but not gunfire. The blast was heard just
after 9:00 p.m. (1900 GMT), the official said.
Rwandan Prime Minister Agathe Uwilingiyimana said she had been briefed
on the crash by the United Nations but had no further details.
The streets of Kigali were deserted. State-run radio had not reported
on the crash as of nightfall.
Both Rwanda and Burundi have been torn by ethnic violence between the
minority Tutsi and majority Hutu tribes.
In Rwanda, a peace agreement was signed in August of last year to end
three years of civil war between the rebel Rwandan Patriotic Front,
made up of Tutsis, and the Hutu-dominated government.
The agreement called for the creation of a transition government, but
it has not been implemented, with the rebels accusing Habyarimana of
authoritarianism and refusing to take part in any government appointed
by him.
Habyarimana took power in a 1973 military coup.
In Burundi, massacres involving the Hutus, the majority group there
too, and the Tutsis, who control the military, have killed tens of
thousands since an attempted coup on October 21 in which Melchior
Ndadaye, Burundi's first Hutu president, was killed.
Ntaryamira was appointed by Burundi's national assembly in January.
bur/dw/nh AFP AFP
