French Soldiers Engage in First Skirmish With Rwandan Rebels
French troops and the rebels who oppose their presence fought a brief skirmish Sunday, the first time the French humanitarian mission has entered into combat.
The firefight broke out as French paratroopers were evacuating 270 civilians from the path of a rebel offensive in the southwest.
French Col. Didier Thibault said the exchange of gunfire lasted less than a minute. There were no French or refugee casualties, he said, but he did not know if there were any casualties among the Rwandan Patriotic Front rebels.
“We passed an RPF checkpoint, and soon after we passed we were shot upon,” Thibault said. Jean-Francis Pezresse, a French journalist accompanying the evacuation, said the shooting broke out after the rebels spotted a government soldier in one of the French vehicles. The soldier, a deserter, was dragged by rebels from the jeep and shot, Pezresse said.
The rebels, who have taken about two-thirds of the country and are mounting a fierce assault on the capital of Kigali, oppose the 10-day-old French mission because they suspect the troops will try to bolster the government.
They were further provoked Saturday when France informed the United Nations it intended to establish a “safe zone” for refugees in southwestern Rwanda--directly in front of the advancing rebels.
The Rwandan government, which fled from Kigali to Gisenyi, called Saturday for French support. But French officials said no help has been offered.
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