Citation
KIGALI, April 12 (Reuter) - Fighting flared soon after dawn on Tuesday
between government troops and fighters of the rebel Rwanda Patriotic
Front (RPF), who threaten a push into the capital Kigali already
ravaged by tribal bloodletting.
There are clashes with machineguns and recoilless rifles. Everyone is
waiting to see what the RPF will do,
one resident told Reuters.
The rebels are drawn largely from the minority Tutsi tribe, whose
kinfolk have been the main victims of Hutu tribespeople in nearly a
week of carnage in which thousands have died.
Tuesday's clashes broke out after a fairly quiet night, residents said.
RPF commanders, declaring they want to save the city from a clique of
murderers
, have said their forces will soon unleash a lot of military
activity
.
The RPF has rejected a new interim government as null and void. It also
says it is not party to any ceasefire.
The RPF cannot sign an agreement with a government it does not
recognise,
the RPF said in a radio broadcast. As far as the RPF is
concerned there is no government in Rwanda.
It accuses interim ruler Venat Theodore Sindikubwabo of opposing the
peace deal that ended a civil war sparked when the rebels invaded from
neighbouring Uganda in 1990.
The RPF regards as its main enemy the 2,000-strong presidential guard,
which it blames for most of the killing in Kigali since the death in an
air crash last Wednesday of President Juvenal Habyarimana, a Hutu.
A French military commander said on Monday RPF fighters were within 2.5
km (1 1/2 miles) of the capital.
Late on Monday, government forces began deploying around the city with
machineguns and rocket launchers and even French paratroopers, who are
among troops evacuating hundreds of terrified Westerners, set up
defensive positions.
RPF chairman Alexis Kanyarengwe has pledged that his movement will
restore order and begin fresh talks with other parties to establish a
transitional government.
Tribal violence has been a bloody theme in the history of both Rwanda
and neighbouring Burundi, which became independent from Belgium in
1962.
Red Cross workers believe tens of thousands of civilians may have died
in the latest violence. Those killed included the prime minister and
several cabinet ministers, as well as African nuns, priests and aid
workers.
(c) Reuters Limited 1994
