Citation
By Inigo Gilmore in Goma.
THE baby-faced Rwandan soldier dressed in a scruffy camouflage uniform
slumped into a crouching position by the road and sighed heavily. We
are tired, sick and hungry and the Zaireans have taken our weapons,
he
said, staring vacantly into the distance. It will be some time before
we can go back and fight.
John Sibomana, 22, is one of an estimated 25,000 soldiers from the
former Rwandan army in Goma and his defeatist mood is echoed by
comrades in and around the city. There has been widespread concern
about fresh fighting in Rwanda, but the belligerent talk of army
leaders and former ministers is belied by evidence in the field.
Troops of the former government are demoralised. Defeated by the
Tutsi-dominated Rwandan Patriotic Front, a force numerically and
technically inferior, they languish in disease-racked, makeshift camps,
struggling to feed themselves and their families. The vast majority, it
seems, have been disarmed by Zairean troops. Many turn to drink for
solace.
Mr Sibomana said the troops have hidden weapons, but he conceded that
they lack the firepower to launch a serious counter-offensive. Soldiers
had reconciled themselves to months, possibly years, in exile until
they were fully prepared.
Major-General Romeo Dallaire, the UN commander in Rwanda, believes that
the former government army would need to find a donor to sponsor
rearmament if they were to take on the Rwandan Patriotic Front again.
But he did not rule out the possibility of minor incursions into
Rwanda, particularly in the northwest.
However, the notorious and well-organised interahamwe, who were behind
most of the mass killings in Rwanda, appear to be growing increasingly
active and are thought to be responsible for recent killings in refugee
camps. Interahamwe members from refugee camps in Tanzania have already
started making forays into Rwanda to kill Tutsis. The fear is that such
attacks could provoke the RPF to retaliate.
The militias are definitely more of a threat than the government
soldiers,
a UN official said.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees has meanwhile asked
that the Zairean government cease to assign its troops to refugee camps
around Goma after a soldier was hacked to death in Kitale camp on
Thursday. There have been numerous incidents in recent days of
harassment and attacks on refugees by Zairean troops, and this may have
been a revenge killing. It is now feared that Zaireans may carry out
retaliatory attacks against refugees.
A Unicef spokesman said he was near Kitale camp at lunchtime on
Thursday when he came across a group of terrified refugees fleeing down
the road. They said a soldier was shooting a Rwandan refugee for his
motorcycle. When the Unicef spokesman investigated, he found the man
dead with several bullet wounds.
