U.N. Chief Urges OK for French Force in Rwanda : Africa: The 2,000 troops would protect civilians from being massacred. The Security Council is expected to give authorization today.

U.N. Secretary General Boutros Boutros-Ghali urged the Security Council on Monday to accept a French offer to send 2,000 troops into Rwanda in a dramatic attempt to halt the massacres of civilians that have sickened the world.

Diplomatic sources said they expect the council to pass a resolution perhaps by the end of today authorizing the intervention. Although swift French action might embarrass U.S. officials, whose lack of enthusiasm has hampered the organization of a U.N. peacekeeping force in the last few weeks, U.N. Ambassador Madeleine Albright endorsed the French proposal when it was presented to her by French Ambassador Jean-Bernard Merimee.

“We are generally supportive of this humanitarian effort as a bridging operation (until U.N. troops arrive) because we are concerned about the killings,” Albright told reporters. A U.S. official added that “the French ought to be congratulated, not questioned.”

Support from the secretary general was not a surprise. He has condemned as a scandal the world community’s seeming impotence to do anything about the slaughter of hundreds of thousands of Rwandans in a civil war.

The slaughter began when the presidents of Rwanda and Burundi, both members of the Hutu tribe, died in a mysterious plane crash April 6 at Kigali’s airport. The Hutu-controlled army and marauding, young Hutu extremists then began to slaughter members of the minority Tutsi tribe and moderate Hutus who wanted to share power with the Tutsis.

In turn, the rebel Rwandan Patriotic Front, dominated by Tutsis, has been accused of committing atrocities against Hutus as the Hutu army retreated into southern Rwanda.

Much like the U.S.-led troops in the Persian Gulf War, the French-led force, while it would have the Security Council’s blessing, would not be a U.N. peacekeeping operation. Under the French resolution, this special intervention force--which would try to protect civilians and prevent massacres--would operate only until the United Nations was ready to take over the job.

So far, only the Senegalese have offered to augment the French force with an unannounced number of troops. News reports from Paris said the French probably would deploy 1,000 troops now stationed in Africa first, then would set up a 1,000-troop unit on standby, ready to move into Rwanda within 24 hours.

In his letter, Boutros-Ghali said he probably would not have a 5,500-troop peacekeeping force--as authorized by the Security Council--on the ground in Rwanda in less than three months. “Meanwhile,” he said, “the situation in Rwanda has continued to deteriorate and the killings of innocent civilians has not been stopped. . . .

“In these circumstances,” he went on, “the Security Council may wish to consider the offer of the government of France to undertake, subject to Security Council authorization, a French-commanded multinational operation . . . to assure the security and protection of displaced persons and civilians at risk in Rwanda.”

But the Rwandan Patriotic Front has objected to any French intervention because of fears the troops would do little more than defend the retreating Rwandan army. In the past, France was looked on as a staunch supporter of the Rwandan government.

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, who has close ties to the Patriotic Front, said the French must convince the rebels that they are coming to Rwanda only to protect civilians. “If they come in with soldiers to save the army from defeat,” he told a lunch meeting of the Corporate Council on Africa in Washington, “this will be a big problem for the French.”

U.N. diplomats believe, however, that if the French-led intervention receives the approval of the Security Council under a resolution pledging that the troops will halt the slaughter of civilians, the rebels will withdraw objections and decide not to harass the French and Senegalese troops.

Boutros-Ghali outlined the status of the U.N. peacekeeping mission in his letter to the Security Council. Reporting that the United Nations has only 503 peacekeepers in Rwanda trying to cope with the rescue of countless victims, Boutros-Ghali said he had received offers of infantry battalions from Ethiopia, Ghana, Senegal, Zambia and Zimbabwe and infantry companies from the Congo, Malawi, Mali and Nigeria. But all the offers, save that of Ethiopia, were conditional--the troops would not go to Rwanda unless the United Nations could obtain equipment for them.

Under the French resolution, the French-led troops, unlike U.N. peacekeepers, would have the authority to use “all necessary means” to protect civilians and end massacres.