Abstract
- At Le Bourget airport this afternoon, Defense Minister François Léotard paid a last tribute on behalf of the nation to the six French victims of the civil war which is currently tearing Rwanda apart. Two gendarmes and the wife of one of them, but also the three French crew members of the plane shot down during the attack which cost the lives of the Presidents of Rwanda and Burundi. Minister of Cooperation Michel Roussin decorated them posthumously with the rank of Chevalier of the Legion of Honor.
- On the spot, according to the AFP special envoy in Kigali, talks seem to have begun between government forces and representatives of the Tutsi minority rebellion. And according to a UN observer on the spot, these RPF rebels seem well able to take control of the capital in the next few days.
- At Kigali airport, after the foreign nationals, after the diplomats, after the soldiers dispatched on the spot, it is the turn of certain United Nations forces to set off. The Belgian blue helmets leave the UNAMIR which, according to Belgium, is without object. She even outright advocates the suspension of the UN mandate and the withdrawal of troops. An undiplomatic way of signifying the total failure of the UN. A United Nations 2,500 strong in Rwanda and yet incapable of imposing the Arusha peace accords. Unable to prevent these thousands of massacres. Unable to even negotiate a simple ceasefire.
- Admittedly, talks took place today between RPF rebels and government troops. But we are still fighting in Kigali and the forces of the Rwandan Patriotic Front continue their advances on the ground. Just as he seemed able to take the capital, Boutros-Ghali announced that the Security Council would decide in the coming hours whether to maintain a military presence in Rwanda.
- But more than men, a clear and firm policy is needed. In the meantime, people continue to die in Kigali and more and more Rwandans are fleeing to neighboring countries.