Pour l'instant personne ne parle de s'avancer plus avant dans le Rwanda. Mais tout le monde sait bien que l'ambiance risque de changer en s'approchant du front et des troupes du FPR

Masure, Bruno

Duquesne, Benoît

26 juin 1994

19940626

13:00:00

CEST

Journal de 13 heures [4:29]

Pour l'instant personne ne parle de s'avancer plus avant dans le Rwanda. Mais tout le monde sait bien que l'ambiance risque de changer en s'approchant du front et des troupes du FPR

Général Lafourcade : "La résolution de l'ONU est sortie à New York mercredi dernier [22 juin]. Nous sommes aujourd'hui dimanche matin et sont déployés ici plus de 1 000 hommes et plus de 120 véhicules".

1994-06-26-13fr2.mp4

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France 2

INA

Journal télévisé

FR

- In Rwanda, Operation Turquoise continues to gain momentum with the entry into the south-west of the country of a convoy of 15 vehicles in the department of Cyangugu.
- French troops are deployed in western Rwanda from two rear bases set up on the Zairian border: Bukavu in the southwest, and Goma in the northwest. Goma where a first contingent of Senegalese soldiers has just joined the French.
- The Senegalese have arrived. For the moment about forty men, equipped, fed by the French. This is the African contribution to Operation Turquoise.
- An operation which now takes on its true dimensions four days after its launch. Goma airport accommodates the big Russian Antonovs rented by the French army to transport military hospital, trucks, jeeps, artillery and armored vehicles.
- In military jargon, the French in Goma are "prepositioned". When the reconnaissance patrols have ended, like those they still do today in the direction of Kibuye, the bulk of the troops will settle in a more permanent way in Rwandan territory along the Zairian border.
- For the moment no one is talking about advancing further into the country. But everyone knows that the atmosphere is likely to change when approaching the front and the RPF troops.
- General Jean-Claude Lafourcade: "We are in the process of organizing the establishment of a large force 8,000 kilometers from mainland France. And you can imagine that an airlift of this magnitude could cause us some concern. This says everything is going well. The UN resolution came out in New York last Wednesday [June 22]. Today is Sunday morning and there are more than 1,000 men and more than 120 vehicles deployed here. We immediately took contact in Rwandan territory with the populations in difficulty even if we did not have our device completely deployed. I believe that this decision was good because already, without going very far, in the south and in the north in Rwanda, we were able to reassure many refugees in many camps. […] It was our political negotiators who activated this UN resolution. We are making sure that it may put an end to the massacres while waiting for the arrival of UNAMIR II".