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August 2, 2023 French

Les premiers militaires de l'opération Turquoise se sont installés vers Goma et Bukavu. Ils ont pris position autour de certains camps de réfugiés tutsi où ils ont été accueillis avec soulagement

Card Number 29053

Number
29053
Author
Chazal, Claire
Author
Jacquemin, Marine
Author
Berrou, Loïck
Author
Faucon, Régis
Date
24 juin 1994
Ymd
19940624
Time
20:00:00
Time zone
CEST
Uptitle
Journal de 20 heures
Title
Les premiers militaires de l'opération Turquoise se sont installés vers Goma et Bukavu. Ils ont pris position autour de certains camps de réfugiés tutsi où ils ont été accueillis avec soulagement
Subtitle
Dès dimanche [19 juin], dans la plus grande discrétion, des soldats d'élite avaient lancé plusieurs opérations de reconnaissance en direction de Gisenyi où s'est replié le gouvernement rwandais en déroute.
Size
53504 bytes
Pages nb.
12
Source
TF1
Public records
INA
Type
Transcription d'une émission de télévision
Language
FR
Abstract
- The first soldiers from Operation Turquoise to arrive on site moved to Goma and Bukavu. They took up positions around some Tutsi refugee camps where they were greeted with relief. French forces also discovered mass graves in southwestern Rwanda.
- The first men were able to go to the West in the Nyarushishi camp where they discovered several thousand Tutsi who, after a moment of reluctance, saw their protectors arrive with kindness.
- In this part still in the hands of government forces and formidable militias, France still has this brand image engraved in their head: friendly country. The triumph caused by the entry of French troops into Cyangugu is revealing: with our presence, the end of the war is near. This is their feeling.
- The military fear an incursion of rebel elements which could with a simple rocket launcher cause great damage.
- A barrage of Hutu militiamen opens as if by magic, where before the passage was negotiated very dearly, sometimes paying for it with his life.
- 8,000 people have been gathered for 10 days in the Nyarushishi camp in sanitary conditions far superior to what exists almost everywhere in the country. For several hours, the camp has been under French control. Rwandan soldiers want to be very cooperative. Although most of these poor people do not speak our language, they understood that these soldiers had come to save them, not to kill them.
- Even few in number the French do not seem to feel threatened. They settle down quietly while waiting for the logistics which are behind schedule, in particular humanitarian aid, the first goal of their mission. Beyond the more or less justified polemics on Operation Turquoise, more or less avowed objectives, the French initiative, even late, will have had at least this interest: to save these thousands of lives.
- The French soldiers of Operation Turquoise are mainly based in two towns in Zaire: Bukavu and Goma, further north. This is where the headquarters of the forces was set up and it is from there that the soldiers carried out reconnaissance missions in Rwanda. According to some sources, the soldiers have discovered some mass graves, further west, in the region of Cyangugu. But the ethnicity of the victims and perpetrators of the massacres is still unknown.
- The first part of Operation Turquoise, which began in southwestern Rwanda, continues. French troops have been ordered to advance north towards Kibuye. Their objective: to identify the pockets where Tutsi are hiding and put them under the protection of the French army.
- A second axis of penetration is planned this time in the north: it concerns population groups belonging to the Hutu ethnic group. These refugees gathered around the town of Gisenyi. As early as Sunday [June 19], in the greatest discretion, elite soldiers had launched several reconnaissance operations in the direction of this locality where the routed Rwandan government had withdrawn.
- In Goma, this city in the northeast of Zaire, the rotations of Transall, Antonov, helicopters continue. Soldiers and materiel continue to arrive at an impressive rate. The infantry and the Legion have light armor and transport helicopters. In the event of a problem, they could call in Jaguars, four, and Mirage F1 attack vehicles moved from the Central African Republic to Zaire.
- A demonstration this afternoon brought together 5 to 10,000 people about fifteen kilometers from Kigali. A demonstration with very virulent, anti-French slogans, but which one can seriously doubt its spontaneous nature. For the rest, the Patriotic Front of Rwanda rather multiplies the gestures of good will: French non-governmental organizations, which had been inadmissible for three days, will very quickly be able to resume their operations. The French journalists, who had been expelled the day before yesterday [June 22], were again tolerated today. The tone is therefore calm.
- There is still a concern that is very deeply rooted in all RPF soldiers: France with 2,500 soldiers, planes and helicopters cannot only do humanitarian work. The RPF saw the old demons of the French presence reappear between 1990 and 1993, which in their eyes had supported and trained the Rwandan army and the militias responsible today for the main massacres. "Any other country would have been better than France", Alexis Kanyarengwe, President of the RPF, told us this morning. But the rebel forces have apparently received guarantees. If the French army confines itself to a strictly humanitarian role, there will be no confrontation.
- Operation Turquoise, which should involve a total of 2,500 French soldiers who will be deployed there by Sunday [June 26], will be coordinated by General Jean-Claude Lafourcade. Jean-Claude Lafourcade: "We are going to protect the populations, not against the RPF or against the Rwandan Armed Forces, but against the somewhat disorganized bands which, following the unfortunate events which have taken place in this country, are causing big problems for the life of the populations".
- During his daily press briefing this afternoon, Admiral Lanxade, the Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces, recalled that the French mission was above all intended to reassure the populations and that it was not no plans to establish units in Rwanda. For the moment, French soldiers are only carrying out reconnaissance missions on Rwandan territory.
- The French mission is purely humanitarian. An important medical device has already left Lyon airport aboard an Antonov 22. A coordination unit with non-governmental organizations will be effective from the start of next week in Goma to try to assess the needs of the Hutu populations. and Tutsi whom the soldiers are responsible for protecting. Still, the humanitarian associations that are already working on the spot still do not look very favorably on the arrival of French soldiers. Philippe Biberson of Médecins sans frontières: "If they manage to incapacitate the people who have been organizing this genocide for more than 10 weeks, by then they will have fulfilled their mission". Bernard Granjon of Médecins du monde: "If I told them something, it would be in their actions and in their speeches to stand out completely from the past. To say that the assassins, whom we have nevertheless supported, and that we may even still support, must be located, to be arrested, to be judged, to be condemned. And that French policy must change in that country. Country also in Africa".
- Cardinal Etchegaray was sent by the Pope to Rwanda for a six-day mission.
- For a certain number of African countries, this French intervention does not always appear desirable because it is perceived as support for the Hutu majority. This is particularly the case in Burundi where hundreds of French residents currently live in fear of reprisals. You should know that Burundi has the same ethnic composition as Rwanda.
- If France has received the support of only a few African countries and in particular Senegal, it is also supported today by six countries of the Western European Union. Belgium, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Germany and Great Britain are all determined to provide logistical and humanitarian aid. France is therefore a little less isolated. Especially since Italy has let it be known that it could perhaps contribute to Operation Turquoise.
- Undoubtedly, a foreign armed presence in such an explosive region can have unfortunate consequences, in particular on two neighboring countries. In small Burundi, where we find the same antagonisms, the same hatreds. The balance is extremely fragile: it would take little to ignite the powder. And then in the West, in Zaire, which on the other hand is the giant of Africa. And the two bridgeheads of the French operation, Goma and Bukavu, are located in an area fiercely opposed to the central power of President Mobutu. These populations perceive the French operation as support for President Mobutu.
Comment
Twice, Claire Chazal repeats: - "But their mission, as we understand, is purely humanitarian"; - "We have understood that the French mission is therefore purely humanitarian".