Alain Juppé : « Certains analystes considèrent que l'intervention française a fait le jeu du FPR contre les Hutu dont les lignes d'approvisionnement en armes ont été coupées »

Bilalian, Daniel

Rabine, Giles

Duquesne, Benoît

Olliéric, Dorothée

5 juillet 1994

19940705

13:00:00

CEST

Journal de 13 heures

Alain Juppé : « Certains analystes considèrent que l'intervention française a fait le jeu du FPR contre les Hutu dont les lignes d'approvisionnement en armes ont été coupées »

Les centaines de milliers de Hutu qui fuient l'avance du FPR sont aussi en danger.

ScriptFrance2JournalDe13Heures05071994.pdf

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France 2

INA

Transcription d'une émission de télévision

en

- The situation in Rwanda. French forces, ordered to contain the advance of the RPF forces, have firmly established themselves in the southwest of the country. This region is the only one not yet controlled by the RPF forces, which, yesterday afternoon [July 4], completely conquered the capital, Kigali.
- This explosion of joy is not feigned; these people have lived here for two months, around this Sainte-Famille church, a veritable descent into hell.
- The one they welcome as a liberator is Commander Rose, the day's victor, whom they recognized, although RPF officers never wear the distinctive insignia of their rank.
- Until the early hours of dawn, the defeated mercenaries sought to assassinate. As we are taken to see the corpse of one of the few mercenaries the crowd of refugees was able to kill, we discover that two of their victims, a woman, and further on, a man, are still alive.
- The day's victor descends into the veritable pit where these refugees have been crammed for several weeks. The government mercenaries, when they were drunk or drugged, would come and kill a few victims chosen at random against this wall, in front of all the other refugees. These scant bloodstains bear witness to the murder of more than 120 people.
- In each grave, more than 10 corpses are buried. During the most violent massacres, the government forces threw the bodies into the ravine.
- The city center was taken in just over two hours. The soldiers told us that they attacked the city from all sides, from all roads at the same time, except one, the Gisenyi road, which they left open and through which the government soldiers and mercenaries fled in an attempt to reach the region where French troops were operating. According to several testimonies, the RPF had armored vehicles.
- At Marc Vaiter's orphanage, they can't believe the nightmare is finally over. As they fled last night, the mercenaries machine-gunned the orphanage without injuring anyone. Our arrival sparks cries of joy.
- As for Marc Vaiter, who managed to save 500 children and also a few adults who had been hiding for two weeks in the attic, alone against war-madmen, with only the strength of his conviction and persuasion, he speaks with the same restraint and serenity as usual. Marc Vaiter: "It's a great joy, it's a great deliverance. We had stray bullets, we had shell fragments. And then there's always this heavy threat of militia attacks".
- His fight for orphans continues. The war and the savagery of ethnic massacres have left more than 60,000 orphans in Rwanda.
- France wants to prevent RPF forces from conquering an entire region in southwest Rwanda, where thousands of women, men, and children who have fled the fighting have already taken refuge. Prevent it at all costs, even at the cost of an armed confrontation.
- Daniel Bilalian now interviews Benoît Duquesne, live from Bukavu. Benoît Duquesne: "The situation is calm for the moment in Gikongoro, which is not very surprising. Not even on the military level, since the RPF has just taken Butare and, after a victory like that, armies often have to reposition themselves. So that doesn't say anything a priori about the RPF's intentions. The whole question now is to know what those intentions will be in this area: will the RPF bypass this famous zone, which must be about 10 square kilometers, in which camps are located? An area that the French have decided to protect at all costs. Or will they want to fight the French? It will, in fact, be a political choice". Daniel Bilalian: "People are wondering in Paris whether the French military will ultimately become, in a way, the protectors of those who carried out the massacres of recent months?". Benoît Duquesne: "They inevitably are. Among the people who have taken refuge in this area are Hutu massacrers, that's obvious. It's been obvious from the beginning that the people who cheered the French when they arrived in this government zone were the same people who had also massacred a large number of Tutsis. But that's no longer the issue. There are now hundreds of thousands of Hutus fleeing the RPF advance. These people are also in danger. The French are working on two fronts, in fact: they are trying to protect the Tutsis who are still alive in the region. And to protect them from the militiamen. And then at the same time they are coming to the rescue, or they are trying to protect these threatened Hutu populations". Daniel Bilalian: "Did you feel the French soldiers this morning in this region strongly determined to hold the ground?". Benoît Duquesne: "They are completely convinced that they are able to hold this ground. Because they have experience, they have resources that the RPF obviously does not have. In any case, yesterday [July 4] they were satisfied with the orders they had received, which were clear orders".
- We are in Gikongoro. The mayor is touring his town, led by a loudspeaker and a tricolor flag, to announce the new French positions. Félicien Semakwavu, mayor of Nyamagabe: "I tell the population to remain calm and stay put, to stop fleeing to facilitate Operation Turquoise here in Rwanda."
- In everyone's mind, this time it's clear: the French will defend them, stop the RPF, at least in this security zone, and put an end to their exodus.
- The French are taking up positions. With about a hundred additional men, the number of troops in Gikongoro now stands at 250.
- This morning, Colonel Thibaut toured his positions. The area to be defended covers approximately 10 square kilometers.
- With light armored vehicles, highly sophisticated equipment, and Milan missiles with a range of two kilometers and infrared targeting, the military in Gikongoro is confident they are capable of dealing with any eventuality. If we add to this two Legion companies stationed about thirty kilometers back, they say they are ready to effectively protect the 4,000,000 to 5,000 refugees crowding the region.
- While the Minister of Defense, Mr. Léotard, is in Dakar, Senegal, trying to find African support for this operation, Mr. Alain Juppé, the French Minister of Foreign Affairs, reaffirmed this morning that our country has not put itself in a war situation. Alain Juppé: "We are not in a war situation. We have no war aims. We are absolutely not seeking to oppose anyone. We are seeking to protect the population. If there are troops who come to attack refugee camps that we are protecting, then we will retaliate. We will not allow defenseless men and women to be massacred. That is clear. But is that called a war aim? No. We must not be impressed by propaganda, the effects of which I see, according to which France is there to thwart the RPF. I would even be tempted to say, if we got to the bottom of things, that some analysts consider that the French intervention played into the hands of the RPF against the Hutu whose arms supply lines were cut. So you see? It is much more complicated than people seem to say. And this Manichaeism from which we cannot escape, according to which France would go and save the Hutu militias against the advance of the RPF does not correspond either to our intention or to the reality on the ground".
- The Rwandan problem is also raised by the President of the Republic, who is currently on an official trip to South Africa. Mr. Mitterrand reaffirms that this operation has no colonialist connotations, but nevertheless, he says, "France remains Africa's companion". But like Mr. Juppé, Mr. Mitterrand specifies that France is not at war. This is indeed, he says, a "humanitarian mission". François Mitterrand: "France does not intend to conduct a military operation in Rwanda against anyone. The fate of Rwandans depends on Rwandans. The Rwandan Patriotic Front is not our adversary! We are not seeking to hold back its possible success! We are simply saying: 'There must be somewhere where people in danger can find help.' We are extending a helping hand. Our action ends there. And we regret to note that international organizations have not yet put in place the mechanisms that would prevent France from bearing this burden alone".
- French humanitarian organizations have been divided from the beginning on the French military intervention in Rwanda. Philippe Biberson, President of Doctors Without Borders: "We called for the genocide to stop. And to do that, we thought, and we continue to think, that there was only one way to stop it, and that was by force. We had to oppose it, we had to hold back the hand of the people who continued to commit these massacres. But, apparently, that didn't work because the genocide continues, the militias are still extremely active. And those responsible are still there! So, indeed, if this operation is already a failure from that point of view, its continuation continues to complicate things and continues to considerably complicate the situation from a humanitarian point of view". Bernard Granjon, President of Médecins du Monde: "From the moment France became involved in this with an army, it was inevitably led to fall back into its political ruts, especially since it has never distanced itself from them, and therefore to return to old habits and disastrous habits, in this case in Rwanda. And elsewhere, moreover. That is to say, to support the regime in place, which in this case is a dictatorial regime, and militias, which in this case are murderous militias".

https://francegenocidetutsi.fr/fgtshow.php?num=35281