Les témoignages sont unanimes : l'armée rebelle ne s'est jamais livrée comme ses adversaires à des massacres systématiques de civils

Narcy, Jean-Claude

Rybinski, Gauthier

Joachim, Manuel

Soboul, Lucie

Berrou, Loïck

Verdiani, Lisa

Anglade, Michel

Gosset, Ulysse

22 juillet 1994

19940722

20:00:00

CEST

Journal de 20 heures [21:43]

Les témoignages sont unanimes : l'armée rebelle ne s'est jamais livrée comme ses adversaires à des massacres systématiques de civils

Bernard Kouchner : « Le FPR doit comprendre que c'est sa crédibilité qui est en jeu : il faut rétablir la confiance pour que les réfugiés rentrent chez eux ».

1994-07-22-20KouchnerDousteMSF-tf1.mp4

66247567 bytes

TF1

INA

Journal télévisé

FR

- In Rwanda humanitarian teams are overwhelmed, doctors in refugee camps powerless to stem the cholera epidemic.
- 150,000 to 200,000 Rwandan refugees are at risk of falling victim to cholera. This is what an epidemiologist affirms on the spot. Camp doctors are overwhelmed, powerless to stem the epidemic. As a result, they are often forced to wait until the final phase to intervene for lack of sufficient logistics.
- In Zaire, the peaceful shore of Lake Kivu and the apparent nonchalance of the people hide the tragedy of the Rwandan refugees. The water is dirty and they have no choice but to drink it. The result: endless mass graves. Cholera kills without distinction of ethnicity. It is progressing so rapidly that local aid workers spend most of their time throwing corpses into mass graves.
- The French soldiers in Goma have turned into gravediggers. And when they can, they operate non-stop. They are also there to remind people that this misfortune is not inevitable, that it is above all the result of war.
- Rwanda is now calm but its people are dying en masse in Zaire. In the midst of this chaos, Rwandan soldiers from the old regime. Partly responsible for the massacres of recent months, they wander the roads, seeking to continue the fight and to stir up hatred among their brothers. But the heart is no longer there. These Hutus, some of whom have blood on their hands, are devastated by the horror that is turning against them today. The catastrophe no longer has any limit. Many had predicted it, but no one believed it would turn out to be the apocalypse.
- There is an immensity of refugees who until now thought that the new power in Kigali, the RPF, was a bloodthirsty butcher. There was a fierce propaganda in this direction, a radio station, the Radio des Mille Collines, which always persuaded people that if they stayed at home, they would be massacred. Today there is a slight turnaround. But it's not because the RPF no longer scares them, it's because the refugees feel deeply and desperately abandoned by the international community, which has not done much so far.
- Florence Parent from MSF: "For the moment, at MSF level, there must be around ten doctors and a lot of nurses. Also local staff. But anyway it is clearly insufficient compared to the scale. of the situation. In Munigi for the moment, there is really a natural selection taking place. In other words, all the children, all the old people die in Munigi. In the morning when we arrive at the camp, the first thing we do is pick up the dead. We spend two hours, the whole team, picking up the dead. Again this morning, we picked up at least 200. Then we try a little one can clear up the camp and start taking care of the patients. But we are completely overwhelmed by the situation. […] Our main needs are rehydration. It's rehydrating people and providing water points".
- Edouard Balladur gathered this morning several members of his government for a meeting devoted to Rwanda. He asked two of his ministers, Philippe Douste-Blazy and Lucette Michaux-Chevry, to go there to deploy medical aid from France.
- Philippe Douste-Blazy, Minister for Health: "As these are populations that lack water, we are going to bring a lot of water supplies to give a million people a drink. Because the main risk today is is the cholera epidemic. There is one death per minute today among these refugee and displaced populations. So I asked the French private companies, distributing water, to give us free equipment. Secondly, drugs and rehydration products. […] I believe that it is very important for European countries, for the United States to mobilize for international solidarity. there is a bankruptcy of the international community. But it is not a humanitarian bankruptcy today. It is a bankruptcy of international solidarity. And I believe that all Europeans must , Americans, all rich countries understand that we have to go there to save these people".
- Interview of Bernard Kouchner by Jean-Claude Narcy. Bernard Kouchner: - "I think we believe we have reached the height of horror and then it is never reached. And then I know, unfortunately, that these images are needed to make public opinion react and react more again the politicians. And it is this unbearable red zone that would have to be broken one day. The horror must set in among us so that we finally say to ourselves: 'It is our responsibility'". Jean-Claude Narcy: - "You are going to go back to Rwanda next week. You are a man with empty hands. What can that be used for?". Bernard Kouchner: - "If I'm empty-handed I won't go back! But there will be this meeting of the Development Commission and the Brussels Commission, Monday [July 25], on Rwanda. And I hope there will be other means available! There is already a lot of money! Almost 100 million ecus that have been donated for Rwanda. There will be more and there will be an emergency plan. We must especially take care of the return of these refugees. Europe is concerned! There are means that we know in Europe. There are civil security, there is genius, there are Bioforces, in everything French cases! Governments absolutely have to act. It is our responsibility. And particularly of France, of course. But Europe can do a lot. The NGOs are doing what they can! But it would take millions of liters of water! And there are 200,000 [refugees]. Who has not seen a child with cholera die in his hands in an hour does not realize the speed the urgency for each of these cases. It is not possible to treat them! We must try to do it, we must do it! But above all, they have to come home".
- Several members of the Rwandan government are due to arrive in Goma this evening to try to convince the refugees to return home. Not easy when fear turns into a collective fantasy, when it is fueled by propaganda on the radio, where we evoke the RPF which pollutes the water, which disembowels pregnant women.
- Since Monday July 4, the day of the capture of Kigali, tens of thousands have started to march. Butare, Ruhengeri, Gisenyi, as the RPF advanced, the tide grew to reach three million people in less than 15 days. An unprecedented exodus. Their only engine: fear. A fear that can be summed up in three letters: RPF, Rwandan patriotic front.
- A justified fear when you are a Hutu militiaman or a soldier in the government army. When you have the blood of genocide on your hands. These are condemned by the RPF. They know it and have dragged a population that they had protected until then, and which today serves as a shield. They had every interest in demonizing the rebels.
- The RPF, of course, has also carried out massive population displacements in the areas it controls, such as in Bugesera. Of course, he has resorted to summary executions in these camps or stadiums where he brings together the few Hutus who have not fled. But the testimonies are unanimous: the rebel army has never engaged like its adversaries in systematic massacres of civilians.
- This, the thousands of victims of exodus and cholera did not know. They obeyed a panic fear fueled by rumor and by a voice: that of Radio Mille Collines. Broadcasting from Kigali then Gisenyi, the radio of the Hutu militias had poured out a flood of hatred and propaganda for three months on a panic-stricken and largely illiterate population. It was she who led the crowd into exile in Zaire. It's flight or death said Radio Mille Collines. In Goma today, flight and death have come together.
- Jean-Claude Narcy resumes his interview with Bernard Kouchner. Jean-Claude Narcy: - "Today what can the doctors do on the spot?". Bernard Kouchner: - "First stop this radio! Silence these assassins! It is they who prepared the genocide! It is a measure of assistance to people in danger! A necessary international measure! Stop it! I them know them, I saw them, I was talking on this radio! They must be stopped. They are partly responsible for what happened. And then, once again, the French government solution! Humanitarian action with means that we know well: French military and civilian bioforce, European civil service. It is also these civilian units that have different means from NGOs! There are engineering units, there are all these means that we can dispose of alongside the NGOs. But above all, even if we must try to save lives, we must establish what we have already done in Kurdistan! The French army knows how to do it very well! RPF! With obviously a political agreement and helped by UNAMIR, establish humanitarian relays! Read the confidence so that these people return to their homes in a country where there is water which is not polluted, where there are houses where they lived quietly. That is to say, medical comfort, material comfort and protection to encourage them to return home. […] The RPF, the new government in Kigali, must understand that it is its credibility that is at stake. We are not going to remake History, we are not going to be interested in past mistakes, nor what France is responsible for, nor what the RPF did, nor the genocide. This is for later. But in the meantime, we have to understand why these people do not want to go home and give them enough confidence. With the local chiefs, with a local political incentive, we must give them enough confidence to return home through these humanitarian relays arranged with the French soldiers. Otherwise it is a massacre by tens or hundreds of thousands more! And as if on one side after the genocide there was this incredible punishment that was cholera, which has not intervened for so long".
- The headquarters of Médecins sans frontières is in turmoil. The phone keeps ringing: 3,000 calls since yesterday [July 21]. But only 150 doctors ready to leave and 400 nurses. Most have no humanitarian experience. Before being chosen, doctors must answer questions from MSF officials. An interview that allows you to get to know them better and to know if they will face situations on the ground. Last step before the big departure: a meeting where all operations and logistics are explained. Because the first of the missions on the spot will be to organize oneself to be efficient.
- According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, France excludes an extension of its intervention beyond August 22, the date on which the two-month mandate given to it by the UN expires. The UN, like the Americans, would like the French government to extend this Operation Turquoise. In Paris we are also studying the possibility of strengthening the humanitarian aspect of our action.
- In Washington, Bill Clinton decided on an immediate and massive increase for Rwandan refugees. The Pentagon will increase the number of humanitarian flights. And then 20 million sachets of rehydration salt will be sent within 48 hours to fight cholera.
- "A Rwandan dies every minute in the camps" explained the President to the Americans, asking the whole nation to mobilize. "We are facing a frightening drama", said Clinton. "The influx of refugees across borders has created what could be the most serious humanitarian crisis in a generation".
- An emergency cell is already working at the White House in conjunction with the Pentagon generals. To give food and drink, to treat the refugees, Washington releases 100 million dollars, 500,000 million francs approximately. An airlift is expected to be set up 24 hours a day between Frankfurt, Germany and Uganda, where a logistics base will be set up.
- The American device is currently 1,500 men. But no question for Bill Clinton to send soldiers to Rwanda for the moment. No question of talking about the relief of French soldiers. The President of the United States is committed but he will also do everything to avoid being caught in a Somali gear.