Citation
BRUSSELS, April 8 (Reuter) - Belgium said on Friday that 10 of its
peacekeepers had been killed by Rwandan soldiers in Thursday's eruption
of violence in the central African state.
The Belgian armed forces have the painful duty to announce that 10
Belgian military blue helmets were killed on April 7 by Rwandan
soldiers,
said a statement by Defence Ministry spokesman Colonel Van
de Weghe.
A U.N. official in Rwanda earlier reported the deaths of 11 Belgians
serving with United Nations forces there.
The statement said the soldiers, members of the second commando
battalion of Flawinne in Belgium, were in charge of the security of
Rwandan Prime Minister Agathe Uwilingiyimana. She was also killed in
Thursday's violence.
The Belgian soldiers were apprehended
as the prime minister tried to
flee Rwandan soldiers who had surrounded her residence, said the
statement.
The Belgian soldiers were disarmed, then taken to a military camp in
Kigali where they were executed.
(c) Reuters Limited 1994
