Résumé
Théogene Rudasingwa announced on April 24 that the RPF would observe a temporary ceasefire in the war it is waging against government forces. At the same time, he wishes to meet with the Secretary General of the OAU.
Citation
A Rwanda rebel leader announced today that his group would observe a cease-fire in the war with
Government forces in which an estimated 100,000 people have been killed.
But he said he would not meet with Rwandan Government officials, who were heading for this
northern Tanzania town for peace talks.
"The international community sees this as a way of stopping the massacres, so we have obliged," the
secretary general of the Rwandan Patriotic Front, Theogene Rudasingwa, said of the cease-fire.
Mr. Rudasingwa said the cease-fire would begin at midnight Monday, the day peace talks are
scheduled to start.But he said he had not come for the peace talks.
"I had two aims in coming here," he said. "One was to talk with the secretary-general of the
Organization of African Unity, and to meet Tanzanian Government officials to brief them on our
cease-fire." U.S. Urges Cease-Fire
The United States called on both sides Friday to agree to an immediate cease-fire and said it was
prepared to help efforts to arrange a political settlement of their dispute.
Mr. Rudasingwa, the chief delegate from the rebel group, said he doubted the Government, which
independent observers blame for most of the killing, could fulfill cease-fire conditions.
Human rights workers estimate that 100,000 people have been killed and two million people
displaced in fighting since President Juvenal Habyarimana was killed April 6 in a plane crash that
Government officials blamed on rebels.
The rebels have captured part of the Rwandan capital, Kigali, and a portion of the north in fighting
that began following the crash. Killings Said to Continue
Aid workers said the killings were continuing in southern towns. It appeared that most of the victims
were from the minority Tutsi tribe, which has been associated with the rebels, or supporters of
opposition parties.
The Government, who are mostly from the majority Hutu tribe, did not comment on the cease-fire
declaration by the rebels. The cease-fire was signed by Col. Alexis Kanyarengwe, the rebel leader, in
the group's headquarters in northern Rwanda.
In the cease-fire statement, the rebels agreed to monitoring by the 270 United Nations observers who
will remain in Rwanda.
The statement also contains an agreement to negotiate on how to carry out a nine-month-old peace
accord, which was supposed to end the civil war and establish an all-party transitional Government.
Plane Crash to Be Investigated
Under the cease-fire, an international tribunal would investigate the plane crash and punish anyone
found responsible for killing the President or for carrying out massacres. It would also provide for
joint control of Kigali airport by rebels and Government forces and for the creation of internationally
supervised corridors to deliver aid and provide safe passage for civilians.
The Secretary General of the Organization of African Unity, Salim Ahmed Salim, welcomed the
news of the rebel group's cease-fire declaration. "Much will depend on what happens on the ground
but a cease-fire would be an important step towards ending the carnage and mayhem," Mr. Salim
said.
On Friday, Mr. Salim criticized the United Nations for announcing the withdrawal of most of its
2,500 troops and observers from Kigali.
"When things get worse, when things become more miserable, it is incomprehensible to us that the
U.N. presence should be reduced," he said.
Map shows the location of Kigali, Rwanda.
