TANZANIA : RWANDAN REFUGEES FLEE TO TANZANIA

Record ID: 347987

  • Title: TANZANIA : RWANDAN REFUGEES FLEE TO TANZANIA
  • Date: 30th April 1994
  • Summary: GV: REBEL SOLDIERS AT RWANDAN BORDER POST 0.47 SV: PILE OF MACHETES DUMPED AT BORDER 0.51 GV TRACKING: REFUGEES STANDING AT ROAD SIDE 1.00 GV'S: RED CROSS/RED CRESCENT VEHICLE AT REFUGEE CAMP/ RED CROSS FLAG FLYING ABOVE PEOPLE AT CAMP (2 SHOTS) 1.13 SV/CU/GV: VAROUS REFUGEES AT CAMP (3 SHOTS) 1.30 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
  • Embargoed: 15th May 1994 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: RWANDA-TANZANIA BORDER, NEAR NGARA, TANZANIA
  • Country: Tanzania, United Republic of
  • Topics: Conflict,General
  • Reuters ID: LVA14I9JAE6M9JD4A0T2UNL6VIL1
  • Story Text: The United Nations (U.N.) refugee agency said on Saturday (April 30) it plans to set up a large camp in Tanzania to shelter at least 200,000 of the refugees who have fled the continuing violence in Rwanda.
    As many as 500,000 people are believed to be heading for the small township of Ngara in northweat Tanzania 18 kms (11 miles) from the Rwandan border. Already 300,000 have arrived in the area.
    The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said the new camp, to be built at Ngara, would take several weeks to build.
    Blankets, plastic sheeting and containers cans were already being provided for many of the refugees.
    UNHCR spokesman Fernando del Mundo, speaking from UNHCR headquarters in Geneva said the U.N. World Food Programme (WFP) had reported it had enough food stocks to cope with the refugees.
    The refugees have joined 20,000 already in Tanzania since tribal fighting in Rwanda started on April 6 after the presidents of Rwanda and neighbouring Burundi died when their plane was shot down.
    Some of the the refugees arriving in Tanzania have been treated for bullet wounds, del Mundo said. He said the latest exodus stopped on Friday evening, but refugee workers near the border continued to hear shooting afterwards, indicating fighting was going on.
    He said a water engineer and site planner would go to Ngara to organise construction of the new camp near a lake in coordination with other aid agencies.
    The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said on Saturday it was sending an emergency relief team from Nairobi into Ngara to help its volunteers already working in the region.
    The UNHCR already has camps in Tanzania for some 20,000 Rwanda refugees as well as a camp for 40,000 Burundi refugees. Del Mundo said the UNHCR plans regular airlifts bringing more supplies for the refugees. In the past week the UNHCR has already made six airlifts of emergency supplies into Burundi, Zaire, Tanzania and Uganda.
    Del Mundo said that apart from the refugees fleeing to Tanzania, another 38,000 Rwandans fled to Burundi, 3,300 to Zaire and 5,500 to Uganda since April 6.
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