Citation
Some people headed towards the border to Burundi. Others fled to Kigali, reportedly short of food since rebels who have advanced to within 30 kilometres (18 miles) of the capital cut the road from the government-held town of Ruhengeri, 64 kilometres (40 miles) to the north-west.
The rebels have captured a hydroelectric dam at Ntaruka, near Ruhengeri, which they have virtually besieged. They have turned off power to Ruhengeri and parts of Kigali.
The fighting has stopped a food convoy of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) from crossing into northern Rwanda from Uganda. Ten ICRC trucks carrying food for displaced people donated by the United Nations World Food Programme have been stranded for several days in Kabale, about 20 kilometres (12 miles) from the border.
The RPF is fighting for the right of hundreds of thousands of Tutsis who have fled tribal massacres over the past 30 years to return home.
This week has seen the heaviest fighting since an internationally-brokered ceasefire took effect in August.
The rebels say President Juvenal Habyarimana personally ordered the massacres.
Several local officials were sacked over the killings. RPF military commander Paul Kagame has called for a truce but said fighting would continue unless the massacres ceased and those involved were brought to justice, not merely dismissed from their jobs.
"The only way to stop the killings is to sit down and talk," he said.
Kagame repeated accusations that French soldiers had been fighting alongside government forces.
France has doubled its troops in Rwanda to 300 to protect more than 400 French nationals living here. They reportedly evacuated some 70 people from Ruhengeri this week.
France has condemned the RPF for violating the ceasefire, which was intended to pave the way for a full-scale peace accord.
Kagame claims France has up to 1,000 troops in Rwanda.
dc/bb AFP AFP SEQN-0157
