Citation
BRUSSELS, April 10 (Reuter) - Belgium said crack paratroops ordered to
Rwanda as part of an international force to protect and evacuate
foreigners from its former African colony were unable to land in the
stricken capital Kigali.
Belgium has 1,500 nationals -- the biggest contingent of foreign
nationals -- in the tiny central African state where many thousands of
people are reported to have died in renewed civil war and ethnic
strife.
But a military spokesman said the 800 paratroops, who left Brussels on
Saturday, could not land at Kigali because the airport was not secure
and would fly instead to neighbouring countries such as Burundi.
Colonel Freddy Van de Weghe told Reuters the Rwandan government had
dropped earlier objections to the arrival of Belgian troops at Kigali
airport, where 400 French soldiers are already in position.
But he said it was not sure whether Rwandan armed forces at the airport
would accept reassurances from the government that the paratroops could
land there. Our analysis is that at the moment we don't have a green
light,
he said.
One civilian Boeing 747 carrying Belgian troops was heading for
Nairobi, other officials said.
Although French forces landed in Kigali early on Saturday, they did not
secure the airport and more than 300 U.S. Marines were directed instead
to Bujumbura, the capital of Burundi.
However, the French troops have already begun flying out some of the
600 French nationals in Rwanda.
The fighting erupted in Kigali after the assassination of the
presidents of Rwanda and Burundi in a rocket attack on their plance
last Wednesday.
The country has been gripped by four years of ethnic strife pitting the
majority Hutu tribe against the Rwanda Patriotic Front (RPF) rebels of
the minority Tutsi.
The Hutus accuse Belgium of covertly supporting the RPF, which has its
main office in Brussels -- hence the government's reservations about
the arrival of the troops. Belgium insists that it has remained neutral
in the conflict.
Colonel Luc Marchal, commander of Belgian troops serving as part of a
2,500-strong U.N. mission already in Rwanda, said government forces
blocked the airport runway with fire trucks after the French troops
arrived.
The rebels, who have vowed to smash the interim government and are
sending forces towards the capital, warned France, Belgium and the
United States to limit their troop deployments.
The Rwanda Patriotic Front will not give any warning to those who seek
to transform what they claim as humanitarian missions into military
assistance for autocratic regimes which are close to the end,
said a
statement issued in Brussels.
Relief workers say tens of thousands of people, including political
leaders, nuns and priests, have been killed in the fighting.
Ten Belgian soldiers with the U.N. force were killed on Thursday,
trying in vain to protect Rwandan Prime Minister Agathe Unilingyimana.
They were disarmed and shot and she was also killed as she tried to
flee.
Some of the troops preparing to leave on Saturday were from the same
unit, based at Flawinne near the city of Namur.
(c) Reuters Limited 1994
