Citation
BRUSSELS, April 19 (Reuter) - The last contingent of Belgian U.N.
peacekeepers in Rwanda has been evacuated from the strife-torn country,
Belgian television said on Tuesday.
RTBF television reported that the remaining 300 Belgian peacekeepers
had travelled to neighbouring Tanzania from where they boarded flights
for Belgium, the former colonial ruler of Rwanda until independence in
1961.
Belgium, which had about 450 troops in Rwanda as part of the U.N.
mission there, withdrew its soldiers after 10 were killed in an orgy of
tribal violence following the death of Rwandan President Juvenal
Habyarimana on April 6.
The Belgian peacekeepers had been holed up at Kigali airport until
their departure. They will be replaced at the airport by a contingent
of U.N. troops from Ghana.
Belgian U.N. troops returning to Brussels on Monday said they were
disgusted with their mission in Rwanda, where many of them witnessed
the massacre of civilians without being able to intervene because of a
limited U.N. mandate.
Several disgruntled Belgian troops said they had burned their U.N. blue
berets before leaving Rwanda while others cut up their trademark caps
in front of television cameras.
(c) Reuters Limited 1994
