Titre
Arson, looting leaves 2,000 Tutsi refugees, five dead
Citation
BRUSSELS, March 7 (AFP) - Around 2,000 Tutsi were forced to leave their villages in the Kanzenze region in the south of Rwanda following arson and looting attacks on their homes which left five dead, a human rights organisation said here Saturday.
The Committee for Human Rights and Democracy in Rwanda, based here, said the attacks had been instigated by local officials and the army had been attempting to encourage the refugees to return to their homes.
The wave of violence started Thursday in the town of Kanzenze and affected mainly Tutsi in the regions of Mayange, Muyenzi and Maranyundo, the committee said. Numerous Tutsi found refuge in the village of Nyamata in the Bugesera region.
The Tutsi are a minority group in Rwanda -- many of them live in exile, notably in Uganda -- but are the dominant force in the rebel Rwandan Patriotic Front.
According to the committee, the violence against the Tutsi seems to be a reaction of "significant reverses suffered by the Rwandan military in clashes with the Patriotic Front in the northwest of the country near Butaro".
