Citation
NAIROBI, April 10 (Reuter) - The bodies of 10 Belgian soldiers killed
last week while trying in vain to protect slain Rwandan Prime Minister
Agathe Uwilingiyimana arrived in the Kenyan capital on Sunday,
witnesses said.
They said four wounded soldiers were on the same plane -- the first
Belgian evacuation mission -- which flew into Nairobi's Jomo Kenyatta
international airport.
In Brussels, officials said eight aircraft carrying most of an
800-strong paratroop contingent and equipment had arrived in Kigali to
protect some 1,500 nationals in the former Belgian colony and help
evacuate them if needed.
Belgian Foreign Minister Willy Claes said earlier assurances had been
obtained from the Rwandan government that the troops would be able to
land at Kigali.
The bodies of the Belgians were taken to a funeral parlour in the city
and the wounded soldiers were taken to hospital.
Belgian paratroopers blocked journalists from interviewing the wounded:
Get out of here,
one paratrooper yelled.
Tens of thousands of people have died in fighting and ethnic violence
in Rwanda since President Juvenal Habyarimana was killed last week in a
plane crash believed to have been caused by a rocket attack.
(c) Reuters Limited 1994
