Mortar kills UN officer in Kigali

THE United Nations mission in Rwanda suspended operations in the capital, Kigali, yesterday after one of its officers was killed by a mortar blast. The suspension - until the security situation improves - could prolong the agony of thousands of civilians from both the majority Hutu and minority Tutsi tribes trapped in each other's strongholds under fear of

attack.

The death of the UN observer served as a reminder of the extreme danger of peacekeeping operations here. Captain Mbaye Diagne, who had been liaising with Rwandan government forces in Kigali, was killed instantly when a mortar bomb exploded beside his vehicle. The Senegalese soldier was returning from a mission when the attack occurred.

The UN had hoped to continue the evacuation of civilians from Kigali yesterday but shelling was too heavy for convoys to move. A planned distribution of UN food also had to be suspended.

It had been Captain Diagne's job to mediate between the UN and the government forces in securing the safe passage of humanitarian convoys. A similar arrangement operates between the UN and rebels of the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF).

The captain was crossing a bridge controlled by government forces when the RPF opened fire. It was his vehicle which took the blast and saved the lives of the government soldiers.

When I arrived on the bridge within minutes of the killing, Captain Diagne's body was still slumped in the driving seat. He had suffered shrapnel wounds to the head and torso.

A guard of honour accompanied his remains, draped in a blue UN flag, as they were removed from Kigali airport to a Nairobi- bound transport plane.

The mood of the UN compound last night was sombre as his fellow soldiers mourned his loss. A colleague said he was the bravest man in the outfit. He had organised numerous evacuations of civilians whose lives in the capital were in danger. He was married with two children.

Last month another soldier serving with the UN was killed, and in early April, 10 Belgian UN soldiers were murdered while investigating the assassination of the Rwandan president.

Convoys of the UN and of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) have been targeted with increasing frequency, and journalists have been shot at in the capital. This is a brutal war, with no respect shown for humanitarian or other concerns.

UN vehicles travelling to Gitarama, 25 miles south- west of Kigali, were shot at yesterday on their way to investigate the alleged massacre of 500 Tutsi civilians in a camp on the outskirts of the town. The convoy was forced to turn back to Kigali.

It is feared that another wave of massacres might sweep southern Rwanda as government forces come under increasing pressure from the rebel advance. A short ceasefire was observed while Captain Diagne's body was being evacuated. But within minutes of the airlift to Nairobi, heavy shelling resumed.

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