Les parachutistes français veulent d'abord montrer qu'ils ne sont pas là pour faire la guerre. Leur première mission : désarmer les milices

Leclerc, Gilles

Ghesquière, Hervé

25 juin 1994

19940625

19:45:00

CEST

Journal de 19 heures 45 [3:41]

Les parachutistes français veulent d'abord montrer qu'ils ne sont pas là pour faire la guerre. Leur première mission : désarmer les milices

Une réfugiée tutsi raconte le massacre de sa famille.

1994-06-25-19-30fr3.mp4

11430807 bytes

France 3

INA

Journal télévisé

FR

- No major incident in Rwanda. French forces are stepping up reconnaissance patrols on the ground from rear bases in Zaire. The French paratroopers begin to dismantle the Hutu barricades and apparently Operation Turquoise is going well.
- The French paratroopers first want to reassure civilians, Hutu and Tutsi, to show that they are not there to wage war. Their first mission: to disarm the militias.
- General Raymond Germanos, Deputy Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces: "We were led to intervene on a certain number of roadblocks by militiamen to ask them to return to their homes. And this in a fairly firm way. Today these measures We will continue this method insofar as it is these militias who, overall, have been guilty of the most serious abuses".
- The French want to prove that their action is neutral with a purely humanitarian goal. They are most of the time very well received.
- For the time being, Operation Turquoise is mainly deployed in the south-west of Rwanda in the Cyangugu region. To the northwest towards Gisenyi, about thirty men are also present.
- The French are in particular positioned in the Nyarushishi camp where 8,000 Tutsi refugees are gathered.
- At the diplomatic level, the RPF tones down its opposition to France and even declares that it no longer wishes to oppose Operation Turquoise if it remains strictly humanitarian.
- On the international level, the European Union supports French policy but does not commit to concrete support. However, Italy says it is ready to send men. Belgium, Portugal, Germany, Denmark, UK and Spain would prefer logistical assistance.
- In addition, 300 Senegalese arrived in Goma in Zaire.
- Finally, the United States is studying the possibility of a possible contribution.
- The international community therefore seems to be mobilizing. But on the ground France is still quite alone.
- On the ground, Kigali experienced a short truce today in order to evacuate some wounded after the bombardments yesterday [June 24]. - French soldiers are already protecting several refugee camps. Nicolas Poincaré for France Info collected a very moving testimony on the spot. In the south-west of the country, near Cyangugu, a Tutsi refugee recounts the massacre of her family. The Tutsi refugee: "Until now it's the only night we've slept. Otherwise we weren't sure who was keeping us. They killed my baby who was a month and a half old, we killed the another who was two years old, my husband was killed. Everyone in my family was killed! I'm staying with these two children here. The baby's head was hit until the baby died. And when I touched the child, I found he was dead. I left him there. I slipped between the dead. And I went into the bush. The other child was with a servant. I saw the head, I saw the trunk. I left very quickly since I wanted to escape. I went into the bush. Luckily I met the two children I am with now".