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September 30, 2023 French

Au cinquième jour des massacres ethniques entre Hutu et Tutsi, les observateurs étrangers avancent le chiffre de 10 000 morts dans la seule capitale du Rwanda

Card Number 29902

Number
29902
Author
Masure, Bruno
Author
Romedenne, Patrice
Author
Boisserie, Philippe
Date
11 avril 1994
Ymd
19940411
Time
20:00:00
Time zone
CEST
Uptitle
Journal de 20 heures [1/2]
Title
Au cinquième jour des massacres ethniques entre Hutu et Tutsi, les observateurs étrangers avancent le chiffre de 10 000 morts dans la seule capitale du Rwanda
Subtitle
La quasi-totalité des étrangers résidant au Rwanda ont été évacués à l'exception de plusieurs centaines de Belges.
Size
27547 bytes
Pages nb.
4
Source
Public records
INA
Type
Transcription d'une émission de télévision
Language
FR
Abstract
- Always the bloodbath in Rwanda where the rebels would have entered the capital Kigali. The inter-ethnic massacres have already claimed thousands of lives.
- Almost all foreigners residing in Rwanda have been evacuated with the exception of several hundred Belgians. The situation seems to be getting worse every hour. According to some reports, the RPF rebels, mainly Tutsi, have entered the capital Kigali. The victims of the massacres number in the thousands.
- Cruelty, brutality, terror reigns in Rwanda. In Kigali, they even go after corpses. On the fifth day of the ethnic massacres between Hutu and Tutsi, foreign observers on condition of anonymity put forward the figure of 10,000 dead in the capital of Rwanda alone. For Westerners, the emergency requires clearing out. Hundreds of Americans and Europeans are heading to the airport.
- Improvised convoys under the protection of paratroopers because here and there, sporadic fire from heavy weapons and bursts from light weapons threaten those who leave. Because we know, we feel that the rebels of the RPF, a movement of 20,000 men dominated by the Tutsi minority, are preparing to march on Kigali. These men were yesterday [April 10] 10 kilometers north of the capital.
- I now suggest that you hear the testimonies of foreign residents in Rwanda who managed to flee this country. There are those whose gaze is lost in the void. And there are those who embrace each other, so happy to be out of Rwanda. They are Belgian and French and they have just crossed the Zairian border. And even far from Kigali, they are still shaking.
- A Belgian national testifies: "Me personally, they put the machete in front of my nose to take my papers. But what scared us above all was when they found out that we were Belgians… They want the Belgians".
- Belgians, Americans, Germans, French, it is mainly by plane that foreigners living in Rwanda are evacuated to Bangui and Bujumbura. An airlift under the control of the French and Belgian army. It has already allowed 43 French nationals to reach Paris tonight. The emotion and happiness of returning to France after four days of anguish. A woman responds to journalists: "It's a little selfish to say that we are relieved given the number of deaths there… People we knew, Rwandan friends who worked with us". A man testified in turn: "We spent a night from Thursday [April 7] to Friday [April 8] which was under shells, mortar fire… We slept nothing all night, we had very scared. We huddled together and waited for it to pass". A woman: "We were very happy with the arrival of the French army. They had a superb welcome in Bangui".
- Almost all foreign nationals have now left Rwanda with the exception of a few Belgians. 230 French should arrive tomorrow morning in Paris. And tonight, a hundred orphans are expected there saved by French soldiers in Kigali.
Philippe Boisserie: "At 6 p.m. the evacuation of the French was completely finished. There are no more French people in Rwanda at the moment, apart from the staff of the French embassy, ​​about forty people. And at Right now, they still don't know if they're going to stay or if they're going to leave. […] This afternoon we accompanied Belgian soldiers who for the first time entered Kigali. Heavily armed Belgian soldiers, very determined. You have to remember that they lost 10 of their men here, 10 blue helmets. And they really put the means to evacuate their nationals. […] At the moment the fighting continues and visibly the situation is not ready to calm down because unlike yesterday [April 10], all the people of Kigali are on the side of the road and they are armed with sticks, machetes, clubs".
Comment
The 20 o'clock news of France 2 of April 11, 1994 is visible in its entirety here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pp6hzGsNmzI