Life-and-Death Tussle In Rwandan Carnage

BUTARE, Rwanda -- A Rwandan government soldier found hiding in a French evacuation convoy was gunned down by rebels after a life-and-death tug-of-war involving French troops. The soldier clung desperately to the French troops, jumping from one jeep to another pleading for protection. But when it was obvious the French commandos were not going to help, with their two jeeps surrounded by Rwandan Patriotic Front fighters with guns drawn, the frightened soldier made a run for it. An RPF fighter went after him and cut him down with a burst from his AK47 assault rifle. The incident was witnessed by this television cameraman Sunday just outside the besieged government-held town of Butare in southern Rwanda. The convoy was part of the French evacuation of 600 orphans and 300 adult civilians from Butare under a truce agreed with the RPF, despite the rebels opposing the French humanitarian mission on the grounds that Paris had supported the Hutu-led government they are fighting to topple. When the procession of 20 vehicles carrying evacuees, troops and journalists reached an RPF checkpoint about eight kilometers from Butare, a government soldier was discovered hiding in the convoy. After 20 to 25 minutes of arguing and shouting, the government soldier leapt onto a French military jeep and clung desperately to French troops. There were three ?lite French commandos in the jeep. The RPF men surrounded it with their guns drawn. All other vehicles in the convoy drove on, leaving just two jeeps and a truck which were at the tail end of the convoy. A tussle ensued, with the rebels trying to drag the man from the jeep. The French forces appeared reluctant to help. So the Rwandan soldier jumped out of the jeep and into the second one. The scene was repeated. Again there was a struggle, with the French providing no help. Finally, the Rwandan soldier leapt off the jeep and started running. I heard one RPF soldier say, "Maliza yeye" ("Finish him"). An RPF fighter ran after the soldier, firing with his AK47. The soldier tumbled into the nearby bush. We saw him fall, with the RPF man still firing at him. The French later reported coming under fire in a separate incident during the evacuation. The RPF denied it shot at the French forces. French officials tried to play down the skirmish amid fears that the French could be drawn inexorably into a civil war that has seen more than 500,000 people killed, mostly Tutsis massacred by government-controlled Hutus. A spokesman at the main French military base in the eastern Zairean town of Goma told reporters the "Operation Turquoise" evacuation was the biggest since France intervened last month. The orphans were taken to the Burundian capital Bujumbura while the adults were sent to the town of Cyangugu on the border with Zaire. The evacuees were from both the minority Tutsi and majority Hutu tribes.