ZAIRE: AID AGENCIES CONTINUE TO HELP RWANDAN HUTU REFUGEES WHILE U.S. ENVOY BILL RICHARDSON ATTEMPTS TO NEGOTIATE AND END TO THE CIVIL WAR

Record ID: 275090

  • Title: ZAIRE: AID AGENCIES CONTINUE TO HELP RWANDAN HUTU REFUGEES WHILE U.S. ENVOY BILL RICHARDSON ATTEMPTS TO NEGOTIATE AND END TO THE CIVIL WAR
  • Date: 29th April 1997
  • Summary: BIARO, 42 KM SOUTH OF KISANGANI, ZAIRE (APRIL 29, 1997) (RTV - ACCESS ALL) 1. TRACKING VIEW AID CONVOY ENTERING 0.13 2. LV AID VEHICLES/ SV AID WORKERS UNLOADING AID (3 SHOTS) 0.29 3. LV ERECTING SCAFFOLDING 0.31 4. LV/SV REFUGEES CARRYING SACKS ON HEAD (3 SHOTS) 0.52 5. LV ZAIREAN SOLDIERS GUARDING AID SUPPLY AREA 0.5
  • Embargoed: 14th May 1997 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: BIARO, SOUTH OF KISANGANI AND KINSHASA, ZAIRE
  • City:
  • Country: Congo, Democratic Republic of
  • Reuters ID: LVABBVSUO2KANFNZWKSX6AT65HJD
  • Story Text: INTRO: United Nations aid agencies have reached thousands of Rwandan Hutu refugees emerging from hiding in forests south of Kisangani in northeastern Zaire.

    In the capital, Kinshasa, U.S. envoy Bill Richardson attempted to negotiate an end to the civil war which has caused a humanitarian crisis.

    Aid agencies arrived in Biaro, 42 km (25.2 miles) south of Kisangani on Tuesday (April 29) after delays had prevented from reaching tens of thousands of starving Hutu refugees.

    Aid agencies handed out emergency food supplies and undertook the registration of some orphaned children.

    Aid workers complained however that rebels in control of the city and its environs only allowed their staff two and a half hours in Biaro for the help to be given.

    Dozens of orphaned refugee children were driven to Kisangani, from where they were expected to be taken to the Rwandan capital, Kigali.

    Rebel leader Laurent Kabila has given aid agencies 60 days to move remaining Hutu refugees out of Zaire and back to Rwanda. The United Nations has said this is not enough time.

    Thousands of Rwandan Hutus had returned to Biaro camp on Monday, telling of a horrific slaughter last week.

    Dozens of corpses of those too sick to flee fighting between Hutu refugees, local Zaireans and rebel soldiers there last week were found in the camp, 45 km (25 miles) south of Kisangani.

    In Kinshasa U.S. envoy Bill Richardson met Zaire's embattled President Mobutu Sese Seko in an effort to negotiate an end to the civil war and to ease the plight of dying Rwandan Hutu refugees.

    Richardson met Mobutu at his presidential villa inside Kinshasa's heavily defended Camp Tshatshi by the Zaire River.

    After the meeting Richardson said, "President Mobutu has assured be today that he's prepared to meet with (rebel leader Laurent) Kabila immediately." Richardson, who is also keen to ease the plight of dying Rwandan Hutu refugees in rebel-held areas, said he would leave for Lubumbashi later and talks with rebel leader Laurent Kabila.

    Richardson is to spend Tuesday night in Lubumbashi and will visit Zaire's rebel-held third city of Kisangani, north of the refugee zone, on Wednesday.

    The Hutu refugees fled Rwanda in 1994 and are collectively accused by minority Tutsis of genocide in Rwanda the same year.


  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2015. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register