Dans la région de Butare les parachutistes français se trouvent désormais entre les combattants des deux bords face au flux des réfugiés

Bilalian, Daniel

Staes, Isabelle

Pons, Pascal

2 juillet 1994

19940702

20:00:00

CEST

Journal de 20 heures

Dans la région de Butare les parachutistes français se trouvent désormais entre les combattants des deux bords face au flux des réfugiés

Face à l'aggravation de la situation, le gouvernement français proposerait aux Nations unies de créer une zone de sécurité humanitaire.

ScriptFrance2JournalDe20Heures02071994.pdf

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France 2

Transcription d'une émission de télévision

FR

- In Rwanda the situation is developing in a bad way today: the French forces now find themselves in a more than delicate situation to the extent that the RPF forces have resumed their advance and the French soldiers now find themselves in contact with what this involves risk.
- An example in the Butare region where French paratroopers who had carried out an incursion now find themselves between fighters from both sides facing the flow of refugees. Report from our special correspondents Isabelle Staes, Pascal Pons.
- On the road to Butare, clusters of people: men, women, children, old people, there are hundreds of them, most of them Hutu, driven out by the war, hunted down by the advance of the rebels. They flee. A long wandering which they hope to see end in Butare.
- But they don't yet know that the RPF is not far away. On the road, however, the roadblocks are getting closer. The villagers are armed. They check identity and luggage. A militiaman: "We also have to check the luggage to see if there are any weapons".
- Suddenly, the hill shakes: the escape, again. On the side of the road, a small group is chatting. The anxiety of the RPF. A refugee: "What are the French waiting for to give us help?".
- Like a wish granted, a few minutes later, the French paratroopers arrived in Butare. They get information from the Rwandan military.
- The Rwandan army seems helpless in the face of the advancing front. French paratroopers take position above the city. Anti-tank missiles, infrared sights, aimed at the nearby hill.
- In the early morning the French paratroopers left Butare. Mortar fire rings out, the town is deserted.
- Government forces take position. On the road, the militias go to the front. The refugees wait at the gates of the city, where those they fled soon find themselves.
- For the French forces the situation has therefore become particularly complicated. They cannot remain established in all areas where they have to safeguard human lives. Colonel Jacques Rosier: "Thanks to the NGOs, decisions will be taken to avoid distributing troops all over the field depending on the establishment of the camps. The whole point for us is to prevent the refugees from suffering from the fighting They are already sufficiently destitute, there is no point in them having to go through this ordeal again".
- This evening, faced with the worsening situation in Rwanda, the French government would propose to the United Nations to create a humanitarian security zone between the two parties present. Otherwise the French troops would retreat towards Zaire so as not to be involved in these battles.
- Finally in the capital, Kigali, the fighting is raging: the city is said to be completely surrounded by RPF forces.

The 20 o'clock news of France 2 of July 1, 1994 is visible in its entirety here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2tsrxBAhHAk