Abstract
- Operation Turquoise continues, grows and still no incident between French soldiers and RPF rebels. Yesterday evening [June 23] the first humanitarian mission reached a refugee camp near Cyangugu: a camp of Tutsi placed under UN protection. Not far from there the French soldiers discovered mass graves.
- On the road that leads to Cyangugu in Rwanda, hundreds of people spontaneously came to welcome the French soldiers. They are mainly Hutu. Predictable cheers: the Hutu were never hostile to the French intervention, quite the contrary.
- On the other hand, in the Nyarushishi camp, a Tutsi camp, the French feared the reception of these refugees. 8,000 of them, 8,000 survivors lived here until this afternoon in fear of new massacres. Today they confessed their relief to the French. The Parachute Commandos are there now to protect them.
- This camp is located a few kilometers from the Zairian border, a few kilometers from Bukavu where 45 French soldiers also left. They are currently going up Lake Kivu to Kibuye. Their mission is to assess the humanitarian situation. Already new mass graves have been discovered.
- General Raymond Germanos, Deputy Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces: "The contacts that were made made it possible, in addition to reassuring the people who were in place, to still discover some mass graves".
- The French are probably not at the end of their surprises. Witness: these new images shot in Nyarubuye only two days ago.
- But the French soldiers continue as best they can with their deployment from Bangui in the Central African Republic. Massive deployment on Goma in Zaire, and Bukavu.
- Pierre-Jean Segnier, "commander": "The experience of humanitarian operations that have taken place recently proves that it is necessary to be able to show enough force to avoid using it and being obliged to engage in combat ".
- There have been no incidents so far.