Citation
PARIS, April 7 (Reuter) - France has put soldiers in former African
colonies on alert following the killing of the leaders of Rwanda and
Burundi, but has no plans to send troops to the violence-racked
countries, military sources said.
Rwandan President Juvenal Habyarimana and Burundi President Cyprien
Ntaryamira died in a rocket attack that destroyed their plane as they
flew back to Rwandan capital of Kigali from regional peace talks.
Sources said the decision to put troops in the region on alert was
routine. They are systematically put on alert when told of a crisis
somewhere in the region,
an official said.
France has some 4,600 soldiers in the Central African Republic, Chad,
Gabon, Ivory Coast and Senegal, the sources said. Another 4,000 are in
the Red Sea port of Djibouti.
Paris, which in recent years had about 300 soldiers in Rwanda, withdrew
its remaining contingents from the country last December. They were
replaced by a U.N. peacekeeping force.
There is no movement of French troops planned into Rwanda or Burundi
at the present time,
the military official said.
(c) Reuters Limited 1994
