FRANCE: A SENIOR OFFICIAL WITH THE MEDECINS SANS FRONTIERES (MSF) RELIEF GROUP HAS SAID HE FEARS THE FIGHTING IN ZAIRE COULD SPREAD FROM THE COUNTRYSIDE TO THE CITIES

Record ID: 639865

  • Title: FRANCE: A SENIOR OFFICIAL WITH THE MEDECINS SANS FRONTIERES (MSF) RELIEF GROUP HAS SAID HE FEARS THE FIGHTING IN ZAIRE COULD SPREAD FROM THE COUNTRYSIDE TO THE CITIES
  • Date: 29th October 1996
  • Summary: PARIS, FRANCE (OCTOBER 29, 1996) (REUTERS TELEVISION - ACCESS ALL) 1. SMV MEDECINS SANS FRONTIERES (MSF) OPERATION DEPUTY MANAGER DOCTOR MARC GASTELLU ETCHEGORRY SAYING "WE HAVE ROUGHLY 500,000 REFUGEES WHO ARE MOVING AND WE HAVE ABSOLUTELY NO INFORMATION ABOUT THEIR LOCATION (ENGLISH) 0.13 2. CU MAP SHOWING GOMA 0.15 3. MV ETCHEGORRY SAYING THIS IS ONE OF THE WORST SITUATIONS. IN TERMS OF ZAIRE, WE ARE REALLY SURPRISED BECAUSE WE SEE THAT SOME ARMED GROUPS ARE REALLY ABLE TO DESTABILISE THE WHOLE AREA. BUT WE KNEW THAT THIS AREA WAS ALREADY UNSTABLE. IT SHOWS A WEAK STATE AND THIS IS VERY SERIOUS KNOWING ALL THE DIFFICULTIES WHICH ARE FACED NOW BY ZAIRE (ENGLISH) 0.59 4. MV ETCHEGORRY SAYING IT IS CLEAR THAT THE FIGHTING HAS ONE GOAL AND THAT IS TO PUSH THE REFUGEES OUT OF THIS AREA. WE DON'T KNOW WHERE THEY WILL BE ABLE TO GO. IT IS CLEAR THERE ARE A LOT OF DEAD AND A LOT OF SUFFERING AND OF COURSE WE WANT TO REACH THEM AS SOON AS POSSIBLE (ENGLISH) 1.20 5. SCU MAP OF KIVU DISTRICT 1.27 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
  • Embargoed: 13th November 1996 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: PARIS, FRANCE
  • City:
  • Country: France
  • Reuters ID: LVA6FL7IDHGVEAJB6W4E3L5XC9MZ
  • Story Text: - INTRO: A senior official with the Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) relief group has said he fears the fighting in Zaire could spread from the countryside to the cities.

    MSF Doctor Marc Gastellu Etchegorry on Tuesday (October 29) warned that roughly half-a-million refugees were on the move in eastern Zaire and that international aid agencies had absolutely no information as to their location or safety.

    Etchegorry said in Paris that while they had the food reserves available for the refugees, they could not distribute it because of the lack of security in the region.

    Estimates of the numbers of refugees which aid agencies are unable to reach vary from MSF's figure of 500,000 to a figure of nearly quarter of a million by the United Nations High Comissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

    MSF officials privately admit that their own figures may be slightly low, and that refugees from the town of Uvira are currently unaccounted for.

    Etchegorry said the fighting had the clear aim of pushing the refugees out of the area, and that there would be "a lot of dead and a lot of suffering".


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