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Rwandan rebels yesterday looked set to deal the final blows to the
government accused this week by the United Nations Secretary-General of
genocide against its people.
The rebels pounded the city centre with artillery fire soon after Iqbal
Riza, a UN envoy trying to broker a ceasefire, left. A suburb a mile
from the airport was captured and another key area was under threat. Mr
Riza left Kigali by road, taking government ceasefire proposals to the
rebels in their northern headquarters at Byumba. But he held out little
hope given the rebels' apparent success.
Young soldiers of the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) crossed the Anyaru
river yesterday about 30 miles west of Gitarama where the remnants of
the government have been holed up for about a month. Making the
crossing through water clogged with bodies from massacres of Tutsi and
opposition supporters, the rebels were surprised by the lack of
opposition to their advances. They had been held up for a week in hills
overlooking the Rwabusoro bridge by the government forces who fled
across the river and destroyed the bridge on Tuesday, having prepared
defences further into their territory. Crossing the river in driving
rain at night, three companies of rebel soldiers were able to drive the
enemy from their trenches. The rout of the government soldiers was
illustrated by the hastily dismantled heavy machineguns and other
weapons and personal belongings left strewn in their wake. The rebel
forces were able to push the army back 20 miles on Wednesday, and are
now poised about eight miles west of Gitarama. They are also heading
for Butare, Rwanda's main connection to Burundi in the south.
According to Western aid workers, most members of the rump Rwandan
government have moved from Gitarama to Butare, and are likely to try to
escape rebel attacks by driving wast to Bukavu in Zaire, where
President Mobutu will provide them with sanctuary.
Lieutenant Wilson Ndayambaje, a rebel officer, put their success down
to the fact that they were an (unpaid) army fighting for a cause
against a demoralised force of men more preoccupied with wiping out
their civilian opponents than defending themselves. They just crack
and run after a little bit of a fight. They seem more used to shooting
at unarmed people than real soldiers,
he said.
The RPF, a Tutsi-dominated army but which is also about 30 to 40% Hutu,
is desperate to gain ground in the government areas to save tens of
thousands of Tutsi who are being held in concentration camps by the
army and members of the interahamwe (those who kill together
)
civilian militias. At least 40,000 Tutsi are gathered in a seminary in
Kabgayi, two miles from Gitarama. Surrounded by soldiers and
interahamwe, they are raped and slaughtered daily while scores die
weekly from starvation and disease. The International Committee of the
Red Cross and the UN's World Food Programme have been sending in
provisions and medical supplies, but have been powerless to stop the
murders. We have to get to Gitarama to save the people. We know that
if we take a long time they could all be slaughtered by the enemy,
said Lieutenant Ndayambaje.
By Sam Kiley on Rwabusoro Bridge, Near Ngenda.
