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KIGALI, Aug 20 (AFP) - A United Nations mission has arrived in Rwanda to see how the U.N. can help in implementing the August 4 peace accord which ended nearly three years of civil war.
The U.N. team led by Canadian General Romero Dallaire arrived on Thursday to assess the situation on the ground.
Dellaire said the group would be meeting Rwandan leaders and international aid workers to get an idea of the needs of the population and report back to Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali.
He said the U.N. would decide on the basis of their report whether to deploy U.N. peacekeeping forces in Rwanda.
Boutros-Ghali said last week that he was sending the mission to investigate ways in which the U.N. could assist the Organisation of African Unity in ensuring that the peace accord between the government and the Rwandan Patriotic Front (FPR), was properly implemented.
The peace accords call for a broad-based transition government to be set up within 30 to 37 days from the date of signature.
Rwandan Foreign Minister Anastase Gasana said Thursday that "everything will be done to get U.N. troops deployed in Rwanda before the broad-based transition government takes over".
Official sources said the Rwandan government had named seven army officers to a parity commission charged with preparing a new national army incoporating FPR troops.
The FPR has not yet appointed its representatives on the commission.
The peace accord signed in Arusha, Tanzania calls for the present Rwandan army to be demobilised before a joint army is formed.
mgu/sa/jb AFP AFP
