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.