FBIS4-47654 "drafr084_a_94005"
FBIS-AFR-94-084 Daily Report 29 Apr 1994
CENTRAL AFRICA Rwanda

Refugees Flee Attack; Rebels Tighten Grip on Kigali

Refugees Flee Attack; Rebels Tighten Grip on Kigali AB2904200394 Paris AFP in English 1923 GMT 29 Apr 94 AB2904200394 Paris AFP English BFN [By David Chazan] [Excerpts] Nairobi, April 29 (AFP) -- Hundreds of thousands of Rwandans poured into neighbouring Tanzania Friday [29 April] fleeing ethnic bloodletting, UN officials said, describing it as the biggest refugee exodus they had ever experienced. The mass flight came amid continued fighting between government and rebels forces, particularly in southern Rwanda, including a reported massacre when police opened fire with machine guns on refugees trying to flee a stadium. A UN High Commissioner for Refugees statement said that 250,000 people had sought refuge in Tanzania in a 24-hour period, many of them speaking of a worsening military situation in southern Rwanda. [passage omitted] Meanwhile a UNHCR statement said Rwandan police and militiamen had opened fire Friday with machine guns and grenades on 5,000 refugees trying to flee from a stadium where they were being held, killing an unknown number. It said the attack happened at a stadium in Cyangugu, southwestern Rwandan, where the refugees initially sought shelter in the wake of widespread ethnic unrest which erupted at the start of April. The statement said an unknown number of people were killed and injured in Friday's attack, adding that local authorities had prevented aid agencies from visiting the area, and the refugees from leaving the stadium. World Food Programme spokesman Francis Mwanza meanwhile said that about 320,000 Rwandans had reached Ngara, in north-western Tanzania, in the past few days, amid the general exodus. An official of the UN humanitarian department, Lance Clarke, meanwhile said fighting had prevented aid experts from reaching southern Rwanda, controlled by government forces. Clarke told a news conference here that Rwanda faced a "humanitarian disaster." A UNHCR spokesman attributed the mass exodus to a "worsening of the situation" in southern Rwanda. The rebels seemed to be tightening their grip on Kigali while the government forces lacked direction from their leaders, an international official in the capital said. The capital could fall to the rebels "very shortly," said the official, who requested anonymity. Meanwhile in neighbouring Burundi, which has largely avoided the carnage sparked by the deaths of both countries' presidents on April 6, at least three people were killed as security forces tried to disarm militiamen. A soldier and two civilians were killed overnight, a military spokesman said in the capital Bujumbura. In Brussels, the European Commission said it was sending a total of 1.13 million ECU's (1.3 million dollars) worth of humanitarian aid to help some 100,000 Rwandan refugees who have poured into Tanzania in recent days. In a related development Belgium said it was barring members of Rwanda's interim government until it received a retraction of allegations that Belgian troops were involved the April 6 downing of the president's plane.