Citation
BRUSSELS, April 10 (Reuter) - Belgian paratroops sent to protect
foreigners from the fighting in Rwanda will not fly directly to the
capital Kigali but to neighbouring countries, a military spokesman said
on Sunday.
Colonel Freddy Van de Weghe told Reuters the Rwandan government had
dropped objections to the arrival of Belgian troops at Kigali airport
but they would land elsewhere for now, possibly in neighbouring
Burundi.
Planes carrying equipment and most of an 800-strong paratroop
contingent left Brussels on Saturday to protect some 1,500 nationals in
the former Belgian colony and help evacuate them if needed.
Van de Weghe said it was not certain whether Rwandan armed forces based
at Kigali airport would go along with reassurances the government had
given that the paratroops could land there.
Our analysis is that at the moment we don't have a green light,
he
said.
He declined to say where the planes would land but said Bujumbura, the
capital of Burundi, was one possibility.
(c) Reuters Limited 1994
