Abstract
- Operation Turquoise is ongoing. Now several refugee camps are protected by French soldiers. But relations are still tense between the military and the Hutu militias. Thus in Gisenyi, in the northwest of the country, a French officer was able to save the life of a Tutsi by snatching him from Hutu militiamen.
- Tomorrow [June 27] should in principle begin the humanitarian component of Operation Turquoise. In Goma, in eastern Zaire, a cargo plane with 40 tons of medicine and food on board should be able to land.
- At the Nyarushishi camp, vital food aid comes from the sky, brought by the French army. Here 8,000 Tutsi are trying to survive. Many women and children. It's a race to eat.
- These refugees are the survivors of a large-scale massacre that took place in recent weeks in southwestern Rwanda. Of the 55,000 Tutsi in the Cyangugu region, 20 to 25,000 were reportedly killed by Hutu extremists. The others fled to Zaire.
- Those who survive today in Nyarushishi camp face malnutrition, malaria and dysentery.
- This morning, a mass was said by a Tutsi priest.
- Moreover, the French operation is intensifying: this evening, 1,100 French soldiers are hard at work in Zaire and Rwanda out of the 2,500 planned. About forty Senegalese soldiers are also on site.
- On Tuesday [June 28] a humanitarian staff will set up in Goma in Zaire. A cargo plane is to bring 40 tons of medicine and food.
- The only concern: the tensions between French soldiers and some groups of Hutu extremists, particularly in western Rwanda near Lake Kivu. Some militiamen do not appreciate the French presence and say they are threatened by the Tutsi rebels of the RPF.
- But for the moment no shots have been fired. France wants to prove that Operation Turquoise is above all a humanitarian mission.