Citation
GENEVA, April 22 (Reuter) - The United Nations on Friday called off two
flights carrying emergency aid to Kigali, citing poor security around
the airport of the Rwandan capital, U.N. officials said.
The decision to postpone the two flights until Saturday was taken by
the U.N. Assistance Mission for Rwanda, known as UNAMIR, according to a
Geneva spokeswoman of the U.N. Children's Fund (UNICEF).
One is a Canadian C-130 Hercules aircraft carrying five tonnes of
UNICEF medical supplies. The other plane was to have carried a
three-member U.N. mission to assess needs, as well as eight tonnes of
medicines.
The two flights were not able to take off today beause of the security
situation at Kigali airport,
UNICEF spokeswoman Marie Heuze told
Reuters. They will leave on Saturday morning.
The Security Council on Friday unanimously voted to cut down its UNAMIR
peacekeeping force to a bare minimum of 270 troops from the roughly
2,000-strong force there prior to the shooting down of the presidents
of Rwanda and Burundi on April 6.
Thousands are reported to have died in tribal bloodletting since then.
(c) Reuters Limited 1994
