...Says, "Hello,my brothers."Refugees Run Deeper Into Zaire
Rwandan Soldiers Blamed As Thousands Seek Safety
...Says, "Hello,my brothers."(Sunday, October 27, 1996, GOMA, Zaire, Associated Press.) Attackersbelieved to be Rwandan soldiers attacked a Rwandan refugee camp in neighboringZaire on Saturday, killing at least four people, wounding hundreds and settingoff a stampede of more than 200,000 people.
Fleeing refugees told aid workers that shells landed inside Kibumba campand along their escape route south to Goma. The camp hospital was burned."It's tragic, appalling. We have a human river 25 kilometers (15 miles)long from the camp south to Goma," said Panos Moumtzis, spokesman forthe U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees. More than 50 wounded refugees,soldiers and civilians were being treated at the Goma hospital.
U.N. refugee field officers reported four bodies. But those in flight saiddozens, possibly hundreds were killed. The assault is part of a spreadingseries of small wars fueled by a power struggle between Hutus and Tutsis.In the past week, eastern Zaire has descended into chaos - rebels have foughttheir way north from Lake Tanganyika towards Bukavu on Lake Kivu. With thisnew battleground north of Lake Kivu, a half-million refugees are roamingin eastern Zaire.
Heavy artillery was fired from hills along the border into Kibumba campand neighboring Buhumba village from Friday evening until dawn Saturday,Moumtzis said. He could not confirm who launched the attack. About 15,000Zairian villagers - plus the 200,000 refugees - fled toward Goma.
A source, who insisted on anonymity out of fear of retaliation, said theRwandan army was responsible. "The 7th Battalion from Kigali, withabout 800 soldiers attacked Kibumba," he said. However, Maj. CharlesAgaba, a staff officer at Rwandan army headquarters in the capital, Kigali,said the 7th battalion was in Kigali on Saturday. A similar-sized Rwandanbattalion crossed into Zaire from Uganda last week and steadily has takenground from the Zairian army, which has offered little resistance, the sourcesaid.
The invading force captured Rutshuru, 40 miles north of Goma, then movedtoward Goma, taking Rugari and Kibumba. The attack is one of the worst oneastern Zaire since the former Hutu government in Rwanda unleashed a genocidethat killed at least 500,000 people, mostly Tutsis.
Rwandan Hutus and their army, badly beaten by Tutsi rebels, fled to Zaireand Tanzania. They have refused to return, fearing reprisals for the massacre.
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