...Says, "Hello,my brothers."Local Tutsis Fight Zairian Attempts To Drive Them Out
By Chris Tomlinson Associated Press Writer
...Says, "Hello,my brothers."Friday, October 25, 1996, KIGALI, Rwanda (AP) - They saw hundreds ofthousands of their Tutsi brethren massacred in Rwanda in 1994, and otherTutsis forced from homes in Zaire's North Kivu province in early 1996.
Now, members of the Tutsi clan of Banyamulenge have taken up arms, vowingthe same will not happen to them.
``We are defending ourselves against the Hutus and Zairian officials whoare trying to drive us from the region,'' said Benjamin Munanira, a Banyamulengeleader. ``We will defend our homes. Zaire is our home.''
Munanira is a member of a new 2,000-strong Tutsi fighting force, which hasbeen battling armed gangs of Hutu refugees from Burundi and Rwanda and theZairian military since the beginning of September.
The new fighting has driven more than 300,000 Burundian and Rwandan Huturefugees from camps near Uvira, Zaire, sending them scattering into themountains of the countryside.
Munanira's Tutsi clan, which migrated to what is now Zaire almost 200 yearsago, is a minority in Zaire's South Kivu province. Compared with their neighbors,its members are relatively well-off cattle owners and traders.
Hutus are the largest ethnic group in both Rwanda and Burundi, althoughthe minority Tutsis are currently in control of both countries' governments.In Zaire, Bantus are in the majority.
More than 1.1 million Rwandan Hutu refugees now live in some 40 camps inZaire - most of them in North Kivu province.
The U.N. refugee agency has been criticized for continuing to feed and carefor the refugees, since both Burundian and Rwandan Hutu rebels have beenusing the camps in Zaire to launch attacks against their home countries.
And now, the Hutu refugees are attacking Tutsis living in Zaire.
``The Zairians are still harboring the (militias) who have exported theidea of genocide to eastern Zaire with the complicity of the Zairian authorities,''said Rwandan Foreign Minister Anastase Gasana.
Today, the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees urged the Hutu refugees toreturn home because of the fighting.
``I am afraid this terrible situation may not stop immediately,'' High CommissionerSadako Ogata said. ``The government (of Rwanda) has repeatedly assured youthat you can return in safety and dignity, and the international communityis present in Rwanda to support these assurances.''
But Hutu exile group, the Rally for the Return of Refugees and Democracyin Rwanda, rejected Ogata's appeal, saying it was part of a ``coordinatedstrategy'' against the refugees in conjunction with Tutsi-led governmentsin Rwanda and Burundi.
Unconfirmed reports Thursday said local Tutsi fighters had arrived within10 miles of Bukavu, a Zairian town at the southern end of Lake Kivu.
Aid workers there said tense Zairian soldiers set up roadblocks and imposedan overnight curfew. They also said South Kivu's governor told residentsthat plane loads of Zairian troop reinforcements would be landing at Bukavuin the next few days.
Earlier this year in North Kivu, Hutu militias joined with Zairian troopsto attack Tutsis in the Masisi forest, forcing more than 150,000 peoplefrom their homes. Despite Rwandan calls for help, no one intervened, andthe Zairian government received only a mild rebuke from international leaders.
The area has been almost totally cleared of Tutsis, according to U.N. humanrights officials.
When the same thing began in South Kivu in May, some Rwandan military officerspledged they would not let history repeat itself.
Burundians living along the Burundi-Zaire border said small groups of localTutsi fighters began moving into South Kivu in August after receiving trainingand supplies. They said they saw the fighters being transported in Burundianarmy vehicles.
``We are helping so that they will help fight the rebels in the refugeecamps,'' a senior Burundian military officer told The Associated Press.
If the camps were emptied and most of the women and children returned home,that would help convince the international community to stop supportingthe camps, he said.
Despite widespread rumors that Burundi and Rwanda are helping the Tutsisin Zaire, both governments and Benjamin Munanira deny there is any cross-bordercooperation.
``It is impossible for the Zairian military to accept that they are beingwhipped by some cattle-herding Tutsis,'' one source said on condition ofanonymity. ``That's why they have to implicate the Rwandan army.''
Copyright 1996 Associated Press.
AmericanCivil Rights Review -- A Fabulous Link!