DATE=4/7/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=RWANDA / GENOCIDE (L-ONLY)
NUMBER=2-261050
BYLINE=TODD PITMAN
DATELINE=KIGALI
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: The central African nation of Rwanda
commemorated the sixth anniversary Friday of the
country's genocide, which left an estimated 800-
thousand people dead in 1994. As Todd Pitman reports
from Kigali, Belgium's prime minister apologized for
his country's failure to do more during the slaughter.
TEXT: Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt says the
entire international community bears responsibility
for what happened in Rwanda in 1994.
"In order for Rwanda to turn its eyes toward the
future, toward reconciliation," Mr. Verhostadt says,
"we have first to assume our responsibilities and
acknowledge our mistakes."
The prime minister added, "In the name of my country I
pay tribute to genocide victims, and in the name of my
country, my people, I beg forgiveness."
Belgium withdrew its peacekeepers from Rwanda shortly
after 10 Belgian paratroopers were tortured and cut
into pieces in Kigali on April 7th, 1994, by members
of the former presidential guard.
The Belgians, part of a failed United Nations
peacekeeping operation, had been deployed to guard
Rwanda's late prime minister, who was murdered the
same day.
The events on Friday capped a week of national
mourning.
Prime Minister Verhofstadt, along with Rwanda's acting
President Paul Kagame, laid flowers at a new memorial
site in the capital, where the partial remains of an
estimated 200-thousand people were reburied in newly-
constructed tombs.
President Kagame led the mostly-Tutsi rebel army that
ended the massacres and ousted the former Hutu regime
responsible for the killings. He said in a speech
that it would "always be easy" for Rwanda to send
troops into neighboring countries to prevent such mass
killings.
Rwanda has thousands of troops in the Congo now,
fighting alongside rebels who took up arms there in
1998. But Rwanda says its troops are in the Congo
primarily to fight against remnants of the former Hutu
army, and militiamen it says are still active in the
area. (Signed)
NEB/TP/GE/WTW
07-Apr-2000 11:36 AM EDT (07-Apr-2000 1536 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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