'Genocidal slaughter' claims as many as 1 million.

• Position: Includes related article on United Nations - Rwanda

Citing a "horrifying loss of human life and the suffering of an entire people", Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali has called the ongoing tragedy in Rwanda "one of the most hideous events in recent times".

He estimated that the victims of genocidal slaughter" in the mountainous Central African nation could number as many as 1 million. The protracted violence" in Rwanda had created "an almost unprecedented humanitarian crisis", he warned.

In reporting on UN involvement in the aftermath of a bloody, three-month long civil conflict, which followed the deaths of the Presidents of Rwanda and Burundi on 6 April in an airplane crash near Rwanda's capital of Kigali, the Secretary-General described the "agony of a small country which is having to endure the massacre of a substantial portion of its population". By early October, it had been estimated that Rwanda's pre-war population of 7.9 million had fallen to 5 million. Between 800,000 and 2 million survivors were internally displaced; another 2 million Rwandese had fled to neighbouring countries.

"It is all the more tragic that the international community hesitated for so long to intervene", Mr. Boutros-Ghali declared, despite the fact that most UN Member States had signed the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.

The Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, on 3 August, expressed profound regret that the international community was "so unforgivably late" in its efforts to prevent the human tragedy and genocide from occurring in Rwanda.

Some UN bodies echoed this judgement. The Commission on Human Rights' Subcommission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities on 9 August demanded an end to the suffering, citing "tardy and insufficiently effective intervention" by the international community.

"To make amends for the delays", the Secretary-General stated in his 3 August report (S/1994/924), "the international community, at the very least, must ensure" that those individuals responsible in their personal and official capacities "for unleashing and instigating this cataclysm are brought to justice". it must also "do everything in its power to alleviate the appalling human suffering in the refugee camps" in Zaire, the United Republic of Tanzania, Uganda and Burundi.

On 22 June, the Security Council had authorized the deployment of a temporary multinational force to Rwanda to contribute to the security and protection of displaced persons, refugees and civilians at risk. "Operation Turquoise"--comprising more than 3,000 troops from France and seven African nations--was in place until the end of August, during which time it performed reconnaissance tasks, ensured the security of a "safe humanitarian zone", assisted displaced persons, and extricated persons at risk.

It was "hard to describe the horrors faced by those who have fled Rwanda", the Secretary-General stated. The "pace of developments and the sheer number of people overwhelmed the capacities of the humanitarian organizations, which were striving valiantly against impossible odds." Among the obstacles were: a widespread cholera outbreak, attributed largely to water supplies contaminated by unburied corpses; dwindling food supplies; poor road conditions hampering delivery of aid; and the absence of internal security.

The Security Council on 1 July, referring to reports of "systematic" massacres and killings in Rwanda, asked for the appointment of an "impartial Commission of Experts" to provide conclusions on the evidence of grave violations of international humanitarian law committed in the territory of Rwanda, including the evidence of possible acts of genocide.

Civil war ends, new Government formed

Also on 1 July, Secretary-General Boutros-Ghali expressed deep concern over the continued fighting in Rwanda and that the advance of the Rwandese Patriotic Front (RPF) troops "might provoke a mass exodus of civilian populations to neighbouring countries". He called for a cease-fire and a halt to military operations, and stressed that "only the resumption of the political dialogue would restore peace and normalcy to Rwanda".

On 14 July, UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Sadako Ogata reported that, during the night, some 100,000 people had crossed from Rwanda into Goma, Zaire. More were moving towards the border to escape fighting as it spread into the strongholds of the "interim Government" in the north-west, it was noted.

Stressing that "unless this exodus of population ceases, the stability of the whole region will be endangered, unleashing a humanitarian catastrophe without precedent in Africa", the Secretary-General on 14 July issued an urgent appeal to the parties to the conflict for an immediate cease-fire. His call was echoed by the Security Council in a presidential statement. Meeting that same day in response to a request by France, Council members expressed alarm at the continuation of fighting, which was causing a massive population exodus. "This situation may lead very quickly to a further humanitarian disaster and endanger the stability of the region" since the refugee flow was "seriously affecting the neighbouring countries", they stated.

Also urged was the resumption of the political process in the framework of the 4 August 1993 Arusha Peace Agreement. Member States, UN agencies and non-governmental organizations (NGOS) were asked to mobilize all available resources in order to provide humanitarian assistance to the civilian population. Parties to the conflict were invited to report to the Force Commander of the UN Assistance Mission for Rwanda (UNAMIR) on their actions in implementing a cease-fire.

It was reported on 18 July that the "interim Government", formed after the outbreak of strife in April, had fled the country and that the RPF had established effective control over most of Rwanda. It declared a cease-fire, effectively bringing the civil war to an end.

On 19 July, the Broad-based Government of National Unity was formed. The Secretary-General asked it to make every effort to reassure members of the population who had fled, or were in the process of doing so, that their security would be assured and they should return to their homes.

'Operation Turquoise'

The French-commanded "Operation Turquoise" was launched on 22 June and first deployed to the towns of Goma and Bukavu in Zaire. In authorizing the temporary force, the Security Council, in resolution 929 (1994), stressed the humanitarian purpose of the operation, the duration of which was limited to a two-month period, unless the Secretary-General determined before then that an expanded UNAMIR was able to carry out its mandate.

France, in a 5 July report (S/1994/795) on "Operation Turquoise", noted that the RPF advance had led to a further...