Abstract
- Edouard Balladur announced today in Abidjan that the withdrawal of French soldiers engaged in Rwanda has already started. 180 soldiers of the 2,500 soldiers of Operation Turquoise have returned, 120 others will return to France in the coming days. French soldiers will gradually be replaced by African soldiers.
- For his part, the Minister of Defense, François Léotard, deplored during a visit to Washington that France has been very alone so far to face the Rwandan tragedy. François Léotard: "France alone is not the United Nations Organization. And it is a little frightening to see that each time there is a need of this nature we turn to the only one. country which supplies it, that is to say France!".
- The French authorities are trying to encourage the return of refugees to their country. A certain movement has even started in this direction. But a problem remains due to the presence of militiamen responsible for the massacres in the middle of the camps.
- In the Bukavu camp, in southern Rwanda, those responsible for massacres mingle with thousands of refugees. Some even seek help from humanitarian organizations. Their suspicious behavior poorly conceals past abuses. One of the priests officiating in this camp gathered testimonies and documents on the massacres. He claims that, under duress, men killed in a planned manner. These documents he forwarded to the UN war crimes commission. But there is no police in Bukavu. And some responsible for the killings have found refuge in the camp with impunity.
- But the emergency is first to ensure the survival of the hundreds of thousands of refugees in Goma. Their return to Rwanda is taking place gradually. So far, 60,000 refugees have crossed the border. There are still more than a million of them in Goma.
- Ethnic clashes spread to neighboring Burundi: 2,000 people, mostly Tutsi, have been killed over the past week.