Citation
PARIS, April 9 (Reuter) - France has sent troops to Kigali to help
prepare for the evacuation of French nationals after two days of tribal
bloodletting in the Rwandan capital, the Foreign Ministry said on
Saturday.
The ministry issued a statement as United Nations officials and
diplomats in New York reported that three French planes had landed at
Kigali airport.
The statement said the decision to send soldiers to the central African
country had been taken in the face of the spread and the worsening of
the violence in Kigali
.
The aim was to provide the security necessary for a possible
evacuation of the French nationals
.
A ministry spokeswoman said the 600-odd French nationals in Rwanda who
wanted to leave would be given the chance to do so.
We have taken necessary steps to allow those of our countrymen who
wish to leave to do so, and the taking of control of the (Kigali)
airport is a first phase aiming to permit such departures,
the
spokeswoman said.
The situation in Kigali remained tense and precarious, the spokeswoman
said.
Other officials said shooting had resumed after a period of calm, and
that rebels had infiltrated the city. The calm is not likely to last
much longer,
one official said.
The French government did not say how many soldiers were involved in
the evacuation operation or give any other details.
Igbal Riza, deputy head of U.N. peacekeeping operations, told Reuters
in New York that three French aircraft had landed in Kigali, but he had
no further details.
Diplomats calculated that each aircraft carried up to 50 soldiers,
meaning the French force numbered about 150 men.
There are about 600 French nationals in Rwanda, most of them residing
in Kigali. Belgium, which has put its paratroopers on alert, has 1,500
nationals in its former colony.
The diplomats said the French operation was designed to open the
airport so that other countries, such as Belgium and the United States,
could send evacuation planes.
Belgium also sent troops to Rwanda on Saturday as part of an
international force to evacuate foreigners.
The French troops were believed to have been sent from the Central
African Republic, where France has about 1,300 soldiers, five Jaguar
fighter-bombers and three Transall C-160 transport planes.
France, which for several years had about 300 soldiers in Rwanda,
withdrew its remaining contingent last December. They were replaced by
U.N. troops. France still has a small number of military technical
advisers in Rwanda and Burundi.
The violence erupted after Rwanda's President Juvenal Habyarimana and
President Cyprien Ntaryamira of neighbouring Burundi were killed on
Wednesday when a rocket destroyed their plane as they were landing in
Kigali from a meeting in Tanzania.
Hundreds of people have been reported killed since then, including
political leaders, aid workers, nuns, priests, ordinary Rwandans and 10
Belgian U.N. peacekeepers.
The United Nations has a force of 2,500 troops in Rwanda, including
more than 400 Belgians.
(c) Reuters Limited 1994
