Le Front patriotique rwandais essaie de prendre Kigali le plus rapidement possible mais les soldats gouvernementaux s'y opposent assez fermement

Piquet, Laurence

Boussié, Laurent

Mousset, Benoît

27 juin 1994

19940627

07:30:00

CEST

Journal de 7 heures 30

Le Front patriotique rwandais essaie de prendre Kigali le plus rapidement possible mais les soldats gouvernementaux s'y opposent assez fermement

Quant à l'opération Turquoise, elle implique actuellement 1 100 soldats français et 40 Sénégalais.

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France 2

INA

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- Laurent Boussié: "Since 5.25 a.m. this morning, not very many artillery fire but above all infantry combat have resumed around the capital and in the city center. Yesterday evening [June 26] there was a fairly strong offensive by the Rwandan Patriotic Front on Mount Kigali held by the government. The night was a little bit calmer despite a few cannon shots. Yesterday was marked above all by shooting and sporadic shelling which prevented any medical evacuation of the wounded. As a result, the health and medical situation has worsened further at the Red Cross hospital since for six days now, no injured person has been able to be evacuated. The Rwandan Patriotic Front is trying to take the city of Kigali as quickly as possible. It is certainly one of their key objectives. When meeting the president of the Rwandan Patriotic Front the other day, he explained to me that the capture of Kigali was a symbol. That said, for 48 hours, for 72 hours, the front is practically stabilized and it seems that the government soldiers oppose a fairly firm opposition to the Rwandan Patriotic Front".
- Currently 1,100 French soldiers are involved in Operation Turquoise. Yesterday [June 26] the first signs of tension appeared with the Hutu militiamen in the west of the country.
- If the French soldiers have not yet really established a foothold in Rwanda, the reconnaissance missions continue at high speed according to the same pattern: in the border zone of Rwanda, a band not exceeding fifteen kilometers in length depth between the towns of Cyangugu in the south and Gisenyi in the north.
- Purpose of the operation: to deter troublemakers, militias, protect populations, identify refugee camps in order to prepare humanitarian aid.
- Missions which are sometimes carried out in regions hostile to the progression of detachments but more often in a country where the population considers French soldiers as saviors. Here on this trail, somewhere to the east, a scattered crowd greets a convoy.
- Operation Turquoise currently involves 1,100 French soldiers and 40 Senegalese stationed mostly in Zaire in Goma. Yesterday [June 26] 500 tons of materials arrived. The system should gradually reach 2,500 men.