Traduction
Les commandos de marine français venus hier pour porter secours aux quelques groupes de Tutsi rwandais survivant encore ont été arrosés de fleurs par tout un peuple qui, trois mois durant, a massacré les Tutsi comme un sport national. Les 150 soldats légérement armés des forces spéciales provenant de la 11ème Division parachutiste qui atterirent à Bukavu au Zaïre voisin hier matin restent de glace quand des brassées de bougainvillés sont lancés par dessus leurs bérets rouges. C'est comme être embrassé sur les lévres par la soeur morte du diable
dit un soldat allumant sa pipe comme pour éloigner la puanteur de la mort causés par les massacres organisés par le gouvernment rwandais et ses représentants locaux comme le préfet de Cyangugu, Emmanuel Bagambiki qui tendait la main pour accueillir le colonel Didier Thibaut, alors que ses hommes entraient dans la ville. Avant que le préfet puisse dire un mot, le colonel, sachant que le monde est inquiet de savoir si les forces françaises envoyées au Rwanda avec le soutien des Nations Unies vont en fait défendre leur protégé, le gouvernement, contre l'avance des rebelles, ou bien vont respecter leur mandat original, exprima ses objectifs de manière brutale. Nous ne sommes pas là pour être agressifs. Uniquement pour protéger les populations menacées. Dites le à votre armée (le commandant militaire local était à deux mètres) et dites le aux miliciens de la région. Ils sont hors service
, dit-il. Les milices gouvernementales, les {it Interahamwe/} -- ceux qui tuent [sic] ensemble -- ont été accusées d'un demi-million de meurtres au Rwanda depuis avril. Le préfet affirma avec insistance qu'il n'y avait pas, qu'il n'y avait jamais eu de milice dans la région. Mon oeil
, lui fut-il répondu.
Citation
FRENCH marine commandos went to the rescue of Rwanda's few remaining
populations of Tutsi people yesterday and were showered with flowers
by the very people who for three months have been murdering Tutsis as
a national sport.
The 150 lightly armed special forces soldiers from the 11 Airborne
Division who flew into Bukavu in the neighbouring Zaire yesterday
morning looked stony-faced as bougainvillaea blossoms were tossed over
their red berets.
It's like being kissed on the lips by the devil's dead sister,
said
one soldier lighting his pipe as if to ward off the stench of death
caused by massacres organised by the Rwandan government and local
government officials, like Cyangugu's prefect, Emmanuel Bagambiki, who
was on hand to greet Colonel Didier Thibaut, as his men rode into his town.
Before the prefect could say a word, the colonel, aware that the wordl
was uneasy about whether the French forces being sent into Rwanda with
United Nations backing would in fact back its protégé government
against advancing rebels, or stick to its genuine mandate, made his
aims rudely clear.
We are not here to be aggressive. Only to protect the vulnerable
populations. Tell that to your army (the local military commander was
three feet away) and tell that to the militia. They are
now out of business,
he said.
The government militia, known as the Interahamwe -- those who
kill together -- have been blamed for the bulk of the half million
murders committed in Rwanda since April. The prefect insisted that
there were not, and has not been, any militia in the area. My eye,
was the reply.
An onlooker, Gaspar Karitane, was overjoyed at the sight of the French. Like his enemies in the Rwandan Patriotic Front, he clearly believed that they were coming to join with the government forces to fight the rebels, as the French have in the past. We were abandoned. Now we are not alone, we are part of the international community,
he said.
Colonel Thibaut, who led the French arrival in Baidoa, Somalia's most
blighted town two years ago, left his escort to drive to the limits of
Cyangugu, on the shores of lake Kivu. On the edge of the town, where
the day before militiamen armed with pangas and clubs screened
vehicles for Tutsis and would kill any they found, the barricade was
festooned with the Tricolore and palm fronds. Standing by were men now armed with tree
branches rather than the medieval weapons they have come to love and
use with abandon.
The French colonel made no effort to hide his contempt for the militia,
the Rwandan military and the political leadership present. But when the
French column arrived at Nyarushishi a valley set amid tea plantations
where 8,000 Tutsi were evacuated from Cyangugu stadium after being
trapped there for weeks the reception was no less joyous, but the
colonel looked happy to have arrived.
Check how the so-called army of Rwanda is doing its security around
here, and then we will show them how to do it. Any incidents of
violence must be reported to me
he snapped to his major.
The Italian government announced yesterday that it was sending 460
troops to join the international intervention effort, but insisted
that they would not be deployed inside Rwanda until both warring sides
agreed. More French soldiers will be sent in Rwanda in the next few
days.
From Sam Kiley in Cyangugu, Rwanda.
