Des missiles Milan à visée infrarouge, des mortiers de 120 d'une portée de 10 kilomètres, des blindés légers. À Gikongoro, les Français se disent parfaitement équipés pour faire face à toute éventualité

Masure, Bruno

Rabine, Giles

Duquesne, Benoît

Curtet, Thierry

5 juillet 1994

19940705

20:00:00

CEST

Journal de 20 heures

Des missiles Milan à visée infrarouge, des mortiers de 120 d'une portée de 10 kilomètres, des blindés légers. À Gikongoro, les Français se disent parfaitement équipés pour faire face à toute éventualité

François Mitterrand : "La France n'entend pas mener d'opération militaire au Rwanda contre qui que ce soit".

ScriptFrance2JournalDe20Heures05071994.pdf

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France 2

INA

Transcription d'une émission de télévision

en

- Situation in Rwanda: Patriotic Front leaders announced today the imminent formation of a national unity government while consolidating their military positions in the capital.
- When he enters conquered Kigali, Commander Rose, the day's victor, keeps his joy and pride to himself. Just two hours earlier, mercenaries were still murdering in this camp near the Holy Family Church. The crowd slit the throat of one of the assassins, while two of their victims lay dying a little further down.
- Everywhere, the victors, the soldiers and officers of the RPF, are cheered. These refugees have been living for two months without hygiene, hungry and terrified. The government mercenaries, when drunk or drugged, would come and kill a few victims chosen at random against this wall, in front of all the other refugees. These meager bloodstains are the last remaining evidence of the murder of more than 120 people.
- Marc Vaiter's orphans, after a final night under fire, are safe and sound. All of them safe and sound. And the modesty of the man who achieved this miracle, Marc Vaiter, belies the nightmare he endured. Marc Vaiter: "We had stray bullets, we had shrapnel. And then there was always this looming threat of attacks from the militias".
- Most of the city is in the hands of the RPF. In the embassy district, a few isolated snipers remain. But it's all over: the government army and gendarmerie forces have fled.
- Three months after the assassination of the Rwandan President, Kigali has fallen into the hands of those who must now be called the former RPF rebels. It is no longer with a guerrilla movement that the French government will have to discuss and negotiate, but with the new rulers of Rwanda.
- The commander of the Patriotic Front forces stated today in Kigali that his troops will not seek confrontation with French forces. But in London, the RPF's secretary-general declared that his fighters were ready to fight to take the city of Gikongoro. For now, the RPF has halted its offensive less than ten kilometers from the positions held by the French army, specifically in Gikongoro.
- It is sometimes in the rout of an army that one becomes aware of war, of the wounded it inflicts, the limbs it amputates, the dead it cannot feed on.
- But should we already be talking about a rout for these government troops who fled the front, fled Butare, and are retreating in disarray along the roads, amidst the refugees and far behind Gikongoro?
- In the city of Gikongoro, the atmosphere has changed. The mayor, with a loudspeaker and the French flag at the head of the march, announces the good news: the French are staying put, the area is protected. Félicien Semakwavu: "I tell the population to remain calm and stay put, not to flee to facilitate Operation Turquoise here in Rwanda".
- And the population is reassured: for them, there is no longer any ambiguity, the French have come to stop the RPF advance. And they watch with curiosity as this highly equipped army is deployed. 300 men take up positions all around the security zone, under the command of Colonel Thibaut.
- Milan infrared missiles, 120mm mortars with a range of 10 kilometers, light armored vehicles. The French say they are perfectly equipped to face any eventuality. Near their positions, prisoners. Before the French arrived, they were the ones digging the fighting positions. Different methods, for a different army.
- A rather critical reaction from Valéry Giscard d'Estaing this evening on TF1: "We have gone too far", the former President believes. The Minister of Foreign Affairs stated that the French military will retaliate in the event of an attack against the population. But for Alain Juppé, "We are not at war in Rwanda".
- The same analysis from François Mitterrand, who made a number of proposals during a press conference in South Africa. François Mitterrand: "France does not intend to conduct any military operation in Rwanda against anyone. The fate of the Rwandans depends on the Rwandans themselves. The Rwandan Patriotic Front is not our adversary! We are not trying to prevent its potential success! We are simply saying: 'There must be somewhere where people in danger can find help'. We are extending a helping hand. That is where our action ends. And we regret to note that international organizations have not yet put in place the mechanism that would prevent France from bearing this burden alone".
- France remains, for the moment, very isolated diplomatically. Most African leaders are dragging their feet on coming to lend a hand to Operation Turquoise, with the notable exception of Senegal, where François Léotard is currently on an official visit.
- "We must intervene to stop the massacres". There is no ambiguity in Senegal's position: Dakar is the only African capital to send soldiers to Rwanda. France wants to rely on its troops to create the beginnings of an African force to replace Operation Turquoise.
- That's what François Léotard came to tell Abdou Diouf. The symbolic presence, 40 Senegalese soldiers for now, will be quickly reinforced.
- But 240 Senegalese soldiers is currently all that Africa can provide in terms of combatants. It's insufficient to replace Operation Turquoise. France is finding itself constrained by the timetable it set for itself.
- François Léotard: "I would like to remind everyone that we do not intend to remain indefinitely where we went to save lives. Which we did! The results are already positive. But it is absolutely essential that other countries come to support this operation and then gradually take over".
- France is therefore seeking partners. Because if Operation Turquoise ends on July 31, the replacement force, whether UN or African, that succeeds it will find it very difficult to do without French soldiers, as very few nations want to get involved in the Rwandan quagmire.

https://francegenocidetutsi.fr/fgtshow.php?num=35871