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Last update :
August 6, 2025
August 6, 2025
Benoît Duquesne : « Quand on passe aux barrages, les Français sont à nouveau très, très bien accueillis »
Card Number 35275
Number
35275
Author
Bilalian, Daniel
Author
Boisserie, Philippe
Author
Duquesne, Benoît
Date
6 juillet 1994
Ymd
19940706
Time
13:00:00
Time zone
CEST
Uptitle
Journal de 13 heures
Title
Benoît Duquesne : « Quand on passe aux barrages, les Français sont à nouveau très, très bien accueillis »
Subtitle
Le principal problème des militaires français est pour l'instant de savoir s'ils pourront imposer leur autorité aux représentants locaux.
Size
24960 bytes
Pages nb.
3
Source
Public records
Type
Transcription d'une émission de télévision
Language
en
Abstract
- On tour in Africa, Mr. Léotard, the French Defense Minister, convinced Chad to join Operation Turquoise.
- On the ground, without it being made official, RPF troops have decided to maintain their distance from the French forces, which have taken up positions around the security zone in the southwest of the country.
- Inside this zone, the French army is trying to restore a semblance of normal life.
- A Tutsi woman has taken refuge with a Hutu woman. The latter offers her her sandals, a final gift before the evacuation of this teacher and her four children by the French military. The Hutu neighbors have gathered. They are watching. For three months, they were the ones protecting them from the militiamen's repeated attacks.
- A little further on, the patrol captain tries to get the roadblocks lifted: "If anyone tries to harm a displaced person, we will stop it by force. And if necessary, we will shoot". The guards listen; they are young, and sometimes belong to the militia. And as soon as the French soldiers leave, they start the checks again.
- To try to impose a return to calm, Colonel Sartre himself goes to the town hall. He asks the deputy mayor to disavow the militias. His interlocutor listens too, that's all. The Deputy Mayor: "It's a question that seems difficult to answer because these militias are the government's decision".
- In Kibuye, while the French military may soon be confronted by the advancing front, their main problem for the moment is whether they will be able to impose their authority on the local representatives. Today they didn't have the answer.
- Benoît Duquesne: "The situation has become very, very calm here. The French are maintaining their position. But the atmosphere here has largely relaxed. You can feel it among the population, you can feel it when you pass the checkpoints where the French are once again very, very well received. […] We see people returning to their more or less normal activities. And then there's the refugee problem. The camps are being organized, they're getting bigger and bigger. We're going to have to find a solution for these populations. But nowhere here is there the concern that we could see on people's faces about two or three days ago".
- On the ground, without it being made official, RPF troops have decided to maintain their distance from the French forces, which have taken up positions around the security zone in the southwest of the country.
- Inside this zone, the French army is trying to restore a semblance of normal life.
- A Tutsi woman has taken refuge with a Hutu woman. The latter offers her her sandals, a final gift before the evacuation of this teacher and her four children by the French military. The Hutu neighbors have gathered. They are watching. For three months, they were the ones protecting them from the militiamen's repeated attacks.
- A little further on, the patrol captain tries to get the roadblocks lifted: "If anyone tries to harm a displaced person, we will stop it by force. And if necessary, we will shoot". The guards listen; they are young, and sometimes belong to the militia. And as soon as the French soldiers leave, they start the checks again.
- To try to impose a return to calm, Colonel Sartre himself goes to the town hall. He asks the deputy mayor to disavow the militias. His interlocutor listens too, that's all. The Deputy Mayor: "It's a question that seems difficult to answer because these militias are the government's decision".
- In Kibuye, while the French military may soon be confronted by the advancing front, their main problem for the moment is whether they will be able to impose their authority on the local representatives. Today they didn't have the answer.
- Benoît Duquesne: "The situation has become very, very calm here. The French are maintaining their position. But the atmosphere here has largely relaxed. You can feel it among the population, you can feel it when you pass the checkpoints where the French are once again very, very well received. […] We see people returning to their more or less normal activities. And then there's the refugee problem. The camps are being organized, they're getting bigger and bigger. We're going to have to find a solution for these populations. But nowhere here is there the concern that we could see on people's faces about two or three days ago".