Citation
French troops engaged in a brief firefight with Rwandan rebels today
during a rescue of some 600 orphans and 100 religious workers from
this southern Rwandan city. It was the first combat for the French
force, which arrived 10 days ago with the stated mission of protecting
civilians in the brutal civil war.
Tensions are rising between the rebels and the French, who have
proposed that the United Nations authorize the creation of a safe
haven in southwestern Rwanda from which all military forces would be
excluded. The rebels, who control the eastern two-thirds of the
country, oppose the plan. They say that it would protect those
responsible for the killing of thousands of members of the Tutsi
minority and that it would almost certainly lead to clashes between
rebel and French forces.
The predominantly Tutsi rebel group, the Rwandan Patriotic Front, has
been fighting the Hutu-led forces of the Rwandan Government. France
supported the Rwandan Government before the latest round of the
four-year-old civil war erupted in April.
As the French were leaving Butare today at midday, rebel forces were
within 500 yards of the city.
City's Fall Imminent
It is a question of hours
before the city falls, said Col. Didier
Thibaut, commander of the French operation. Rwandan Government
soldiers were fleeing on foot and in cars from the city, the second
largest in the country after the capital, Kigali.
Butare's population of about 30,000 has been swollen to several times
that number by thousands of refugees from other parts of the country.
Amid the sound of automatic-rifle fire and the thud of mortars, people
poured out of Butare by every means possible today, including a yellow
Caterpillar bulldozer. The rich stuffed their cars with children,
televisions and kitchenware, and headed west along a twisting road
through the dense Nyungwe Forest. Small pickup trucks sagged under the
weight of household goods and people perched on top.
Thousands of barefoot peasants walked, suitcases and rolled mattresses
balanced on their heads, holding their children by the hand.
Arrival of Rescue Mission
Fleeing residents said that rebel forces began advancing on Butare a
week ago and launched a major attack on Friday evening. Today, the
French rescue mission, which included paratroopers and navy commandos,
arrived in the city from the west almost precisely at noon. A convoy
of jeeps with mounted machine guns escorted six buses.
Five of the buses went to an orphanage where the children were quickly
hustled on board and the buses, with military escort, headed south to
Burundi, Rwanda's southern neighbor, along a dirt road where at least
100,000 refugees were already camped, most without shelter. The other
bus picked up the religious workers, including many nuns, and headed
west.
By 1:30, Colonel Thibaut and his unit were headed out of Butare to the
west, in a convoy joined by several passenger cars eager for French
protection. It was then that the convoy was fired on, and the French
soldiers returned the fire.
Some of the rebel fire struck the French jeeps, but no one was
wounded, Colonel Thibaut said. He said he did not know if his troops
had killed or wounded any of the rebels.
I received orders to get out of Butare quickly because we were under
fire from the R.P.F.,
Colonel Thibaut said, using the initials of the
Rwandan Patriotic Front. My mission is not to fight the R.P.F.
Since arriving on June 23, the French have said emphatically that
their mission is only to protect civilians and that they will not take
sides in the civil war. At the same time, French officials have said
that the rebels cannot be allowed to achieve a military victory.
On Saturday, the French asked the United Nations Security Council to
authorize the creation of a safe haven in southwestern Rwanda. France
said it would be forced to withdraw its troops if it did not get
international support for such an area.
The rebels, who have been suspicious of French intentions from the
beginning, denounced the proposal.
It is a confirmation that the French mission is not for humanitarian
purposes,
said Theogene Rudaswingwa, Secretary General of the Rwanda
Patriotic Front.
