Abstract
- Rwanda. France is now issuing warnings to the RPF: no armed infiltration into the humanitarian zone defined by the French.
- The time for provocations and threats is undoubtedly over. Ignoring the UN's call for a ceasefire, the RPF wants to consolidate its victory.
- Yesterday afternoon [July 17], mortar shells fell on Goma, on the Zairian-Rwandan border, the base of Operation Turquoise. The airport was also hit. There were reportedly 60 deaths, many of them children. Humanitarian flights have been suspended.
- Fighting has therefore reached the vicinity of Zaire. Gisenyi, a few kilometers away, the last stronghold of government forces, fell yesterday [July 17].
- The RPF is even announcing its intention to invade the French protection zone if the perpetrators of the massacres are not handed over to them. A clash occurred again yesterday [July 17] with French soldiers. Given the seriousness of the situation, France is placing the blame on the RPF and reiterating that the safe zone is off-limits to him.
- Meanwhile, refugees continue to pour in across the country, forming ever-growing columns stretching for dozens of kilometers.