Abstract
- Several people were killed in Burundi, a country neighboring Rwanda, during inter-ethnic clashes. As in Rwanda, it seems that the Tutsi are the first victims of this tragedy.
- In Washington the French Minister of Defense, François Léotard, announced that Paris would begin a limited withdrawal of its troops from today. But the UN hopes that Operation Turquoise will be extended. The force of the peacekeepers is having great difficulty in organizing itself.
- While waiting for American aid, refugee status has become the most widely shared thing in Rwanda. Of the country's seven million inhabitants before the massacres, at least five have been displaced. Whether or not this gigantic back-and-forth takes the dramatic form of the exodus to Zaire, the new Rwandan power is walking on eggshells. Paul Kagame, former warlord and strongman of the regime, has rather cautious formulas. Paul Kagame, "Vice-President of the new Rwandan Government": "We want the refugees to return to Rwanda. But we must be helped. We cannot face all this misery alone".
- Kigali the capital is mutilated. And the survivors of the massacres are not interested in the eventual return of the refugees. As if, to digest the horror of the last few months, it was better not to be too many.
- Life is made of nothing in Kigali: quiet looting and songs of the victorious soldiers. In the markets, with a few stocks of products pilfered or bought from the representatives of the United Nations, it is the resumption of trade and perhaps the school of a new dignity. All Rwandans will have to learn to be free again. And it's probably not just a question of humanitarian aid.
- The Red Cross is launching an "Emergency envelope for Rwanda" operation. From today, in stations, at highway tolls envelopes will be distributed to slip in a bank or postal check.