DATE=7/9/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=ALBRIGHT-RWANDA (L-O)
NUMBER=2-264229
BYLINE=DAVID GOLLUST
DATELINE=WHITE HOUSE
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: Secretary of State Madeleine Albright says an
international panel is wrong to blame the United
States for failing to prevent the ethnic killing of
more than one-half-million people in Rwanda in 1994.
The United States was among several countries and
institutions singled out for blame by the panel - set
up by the Organization of African Unity - which
presented its findings Friday at the United Nations.
Correspondent David Gollust reports from the White
House.
TEXT: Ms. Albright - who was ambassador to the United
Nations at the time of the Rwanda killings in 1994 -
says she was frustrated at what she suggests was
administration inaction in the run-up to the central
African crisis.
But she says it is not true that the United States
sought to prevent deployment of a U-N force in Rwanda
because of the deaths of 18 American soldiers in
Somalia in a U-N mission there only a few months
before.
Appearing Sunday on the A-B-C network television
program "This Week", Ms. Albright said the slaughter
of members of Rwanda's ethnic-Tutsi minority by Hutu
extremists - exploded rapidly - and that at the time
there was no U-N force capable of dealing with it.
She said the United States then, and now, is trying to
get the United Nations to set up a peace force
tailored for crises like that in Rwanda, and is still
grieved by what happened in the Central African state:
/// ALBRIGHT ACT ///
We were trying very hard and continue to try to
get the United Nations to understand what is a
workable mandate, and to get the forces that are
suitable for the purpose. And so I think it is
an inaccurate accusation. What is horrendous is
that Rwanda happened. And both the President
and I have said how horrendous it was and how we
regret what happened. And we have done a great
deal for Rwanda since then in terms of
assistance. There is a war-crimes tribunal we
have supported. And so while everything that
happened there is horrendous, I think it is
wrong to place the blame on the United States.
/// END ACT ///
In addition to the United States, the O-A-U study
panel also faulted the U-N Security Council, France,
Belgium, and the Roman Catholic Church for failing to
prevent or at least limit the Rwandan slaughter. It
urged world nations - especially the ones it faulted
in the killings - to pay reparations to Rwanda in the
interests of justice and accountability.
During his visit to Rwanda two-years ago, President
Clinton said all those in the international community
- including African states - bear shares of
responsibility for what happened in Rwanda: for not
acting quickly enough when the killings began, and for
not recognizing it as genocide. (SIGNED)
NEB/DAG/RAE
09-Jul-2000 15:30 PM EDT (09-Jul-2000 1930 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
.
|
NEWSLETTER
|
|
Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list
|
|
|
