Timeline
Timeline
June 25, 1994
UNAMIR reports that it still cannot move 400 civilians across the frontlines in Kigali because of intense fighting in the city center. French troops reinforced by 800 Senegalese soldiers are reported to be moving to the northwestern prefecture of Ruhengeri.
June 24, 1994
More French forces move into western Rwanda through Goma and Bukavu. More than 30,000 refugees in the RPF-controlled area of Ndera, 20 kilometers east of Kigali, hold a demonstration demanding the immediate withdrawal of French troops from Rwanda. Eighteen of the demonstrators write a letter to French President Francois Mitterrand condemning his sending of troops to Rwanda. Colonel Frank Mugambage tells foreign journalists at a press conference in Kigali that RPF forces have no opposition to the French troops in Rwanda so long as they adhere to their disclosed humanitarian mission. He stresses that if the French intervene in the ongoing military conflict, RPF forces will resist them.
June 23, 1994
“Operation Turquoise” launches with approximately 3,000 French and African troops deployed to provide a humanitarian safe zone in southwest Rwanda. French troops cross into Rwanda and surround refugee camps in Cyangugu, where Tutsi have been living under the threat of the militias. The Foreign Minister of the Interim Government, Jerome Bicamumpaka, welcomes the French intervention force calling it a mission to save the Rwandan population. Hundreds of militias wielding machetes and clubs gave the French troops a tumultuous welcome as they crossed the border from Zaire into Rwanda.
June 22, 1994
The French Government secures authorisation, under UN Security Council Resolution 929, to set up a “safe zone” in Rwanda for providing humanitarian assistance in the southwest prefectures of Gikongoro, Cyangugu and Kibuye. The maximum occupation time allowed to them is two months. More than 50,000 people from opposition parties in Burundi staged a peaceful demonstration in Bujumbura protesting against the “invasion” of Rwanda by the French. The US Government starts to use the word “genocide” to label the killing that has been happening in Rwanda.
June 21, 1994
French soldiers arrive on Rwanda’s border with Zaire. The former President of the UN Security Council, Paul Keating of New Zealand, cautions the Council that France’s mission to Rwanda may complicate matters and aggravate the civil war there. RPF military leaders say that any French soldiers entering Rwanda will be treated as an invading force.
June 19, 1994
France requests authorisation from the UN Security Council to send troops to Rwanda. France continues to lobby Western and African countries to contribute troops for its proposed military mission to Rwanda. Italy refuses the request to provide troops. Senegal is the only African country to give a positive response to the French troop request. Tanzania condemns the French proposal to send troops to Rwanda while opposition parties in Burundi and Zaire express similar disapproval.
June 18, 1994
Fighting continues in Kigali in the areas still under Government troops’ control. RPF forces advance towards Butare in the south and Kibuye to the west as Government troops continue fleeing.
June 17, 1994
France announces plans to deploy troops to Rwanda as an interim peacekeeping force. UN Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali and the US Government support the plan. French Foreign Minister Alain Jupe says that between 1,000 and 2,000 French troops will be sent to Rwanda. France asks other Western and African countries to contribute troops to accompany the French contingent.
June 16, 1994
RPF forces rescue about 3,000 hostages from the Sainte Famille and Saint Paul parishes after exchanging gunfire with Government troops and militias.
June 15, 1994
France declares its intention to send troops to Rwanda ostensibly to save the lives of Tutsi who are being massacred by Hutu militias and troops of the Rwandan Government that France supported financially and militarily.