Citation
UNITED NATIONS, April 8 (Reuter) - The United Nations Friday proposed
to send another 1,500 to 2,000 troops to Rwanda if it became necessary
to evacuate its civilian staff and other foreigners from the central
African nation.
Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali told the Security Council it
might be necesary to change the mandate for the 2,500-strong
peacekeeping operation and members should give this matter their
urgent attention.
Belgium, France the United States are making plans to rescue their
nationals in Rwanda from tribal bloodletting which has killed political
leaders, U.N. peacekeepers, aid workers, nuns, priests and ordinary
Rwandans.
Diplomats said Belgium, which has 400 troops with the 2,500-strong U.N.
contingent, wants to send in new forces under a U.N. flag to rescue its
1,500 citizens there. Brussels also spoke to Boutros-Ghali about
changing the mandate of the U.N. troops to allow for the use of force.
But there has been no decision on this request with some council
members wary of any operation aimed at Europeans only under a U.N.
flag.
Iqbal Riza, the deputy chief of peacekeeping, told reporters there was
no immediate U.N. operation planned.
We have just alerted the Security Council that this might need to be
considered and of the resources required,
he said.
In contrast to Boutros-Ghali, Riza said that the council might not need
a new mandate but new rules under the present mandate for the U.N.
Assistance Mission in Rwanda (UNAMIR).
Boutros-Ghali, expressing his views in a letter said: It is quite
possible that the evacuation of civilian staff from the United Nations
system, as well as other foreign nationals, might become unavoidable in
which event UNAMIR would be hindered in providing assistance under its
present mandate and rules of engagement.
The members of the Security Council might wish to give this matter
their urgent attention,
he said, adding that two or three additional
battalions would be needed.
Riza also told reporters approaches to Kigali's airport in the Rwandese
capital, were controlled by the Rwanda Patriotic Front, composed mainly
of Tutsis involved in a civil war with the dominant Hutu tribe.
But the airport is still controlled by the hardline Hutu presidential
guard, which has been responsible for much of the mayhem after
President Juvenal Habyarimana as well as President Cyprien Ntaryamira
of Burundi were killed in a rocket attack on their plane as it flew
into the city Wednesday night. It is not clear who was responsible.
The late president and his guard were part of a coalition government
but opposed all Hutu political parties that allowed Tutsis in their
midst.
U.N. sources said the conflict was not merely one between Hutus and
Tutsis but among Hutus also.
A representative of the RPF said the United States and other countries
had spoken to him about contingency plans to evacuate foreign
nationals. We will not shoot at them,
said Claude Dusaidi, who said
the RPF was cooperating with the United Nations.
U.N. troops first went into Rwanda to monitor the Rwanda-Urgandan
border which was by the rebel RPF and and then observe a ceasefire and
protect government leaders.
The operation was instituted last autumn at the urging of France, which
which wanted to pull out its contingents from Kigali after they were
accused of siding with the government.
Belgium has put paratroopers on alert to evacuate its 1,500 nationals
from Rwanda, a former Belgian colony, after 10 Belgian soldiers were
killed trying to protect the country's prime minister.
France also was considering using troops stationed in the Central
African Republic to evacuate its 600 nationals from Rwanda and the
United States said it would evacuate its 255 citizens but did not say
how.
(c) Reuters Limited 1994
