Citation
BRUSSELS, April 13 (Reuter) - Belgium hurried to evacuate the last of
its nationals from Rwanda on Wednesday as the capital Kigali echoed
with heavy artillery, mortar and cannon fire between Rwandan rebels and
government forces.
They are still getting people out from the interior (of Rwanda),
an
armed forces spokesman said. He said he had been informed some members
of religious orders were planning to stay.
Another spokesman said all the Belgians in Kigali had been evacuated to
the airport but he had no information on about 20 still to be picked up
from the interior.
There were 1,500 Belgians in Rwanda. Belgium, like other Western
nations, started evacuating its nationals when violence flared last
week after president Juvenal Habyarimana was assassinated in a rocket
attack on his plane.
Belgium wants its nationals out before a Rwanda Patriotic Front (RPF)
rebel ultimatum for all foreigners to leave the country expires. But it
was unclear whether the ultimatum expired Wednesday or Thursday night.
The ultimatum does not apply to the U.N. peacekeeping forces.
Belgium's ambassador to Rwanda, Johan Swinnen, landed in Brussels on
Wednesday aboard a Boeing 747 with about 425 people.
He was one of the most targeted (foreign) residents in Rwanda because
he had been blamed for a number of things,
Belgian Prime Minister
Jean-Luc Dehaene told BRTN Belgian radio.
Belgians are unpopular among the majority Hutu tribe which believes
they support the rebels. There were also rumours in Kigali that Belgium
was involved in the death of the president whose plane was shot down as
it landed in Kigali.
Belgium has denied the rumours.
BRTN quoted Swinnen as saying the embassy was no longer safe and that a
local radio station had called for the killing of all Belgians in
Rwanda.
The radio said earlier that United Nations Secretary-General Boutros
Boutros-Ghali has agreed Belgium could withdraw its contingent of U.N.
peacekeepers from Rwanda.
Belgium has 430 blue helmets
in Rwanda as part of the 2,500-strong
U.N. Assistance Mission for Rwanda (UNAMIR), formed last year to help
implement an accord signed in Arusha, Tanzania, by the Rwandan
government and the RPF.
Ten of the 430 were killed last week while trying to protect Rwanda's
Prime Minister who was later killed.
The Belgian peacekeepers have since been joined by at least 400
paratroops sent to evacuate foreigners.
Boutros-Ghali has responded positively to the request by (Belgian
Foreign) minister Claes to withdraw the Belgian blue helmets from
Rwanda,
BRTN said.
Claes met Boutros-Ghali in Bonn on Tuesday evening.
BRTN said the U.N. chief would still like a formal decision from the
U.N. Security Council, adding the council could meet today.
This way Belgium would avoid a unilateral withdrawal of its troops,
BRTN said.
A spokeswoman for Dehaene said the government had discussed a possible
withdrawal of Belgian U.N. troops. But she said she could not confirm
that Belgium wanted to pull its blue helmets out of Rwanda.
Six Belgian civilians have also been killed in the ethnic violence.
(c) Reuters Limited 1994
