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LA GRANDE BARRIERE, Rwanda-Zaire border, July 14 (AFP) ? Tens of
thousands of Rwandan refugees, fleeing the advancing Rwandan Patriotic
Front, surged into the Zairean border town of Goma on Thursday,
catching humanitarian aid groups unprepared for their arrival.
From dawn Thursday, the border crossings out of Rwanda were awash with
crowds of miserable, nervous refugees, pushing their children ahead of
them, following what was for many an already weeks-long flight across
the war?scarred country.
The Tutsi-led RPF has pushed decisively into the western Rwandan
holdout of the ousted government forces, sending waves of refugees
flooding into Zaire.
Ruhengeri, the northwestern town fell overnight into RPF hands, the
minister for planning in the former Hutu-dominated government, Augustin
Ngirabatware said at La Grande Barriere, the main crossing point
between Gisenyi in Rwanda and Goma.
The first shooting started at 5:00 a.m. "Our soldiers fired automatic
weapons fire to test the enemy presence and the RPF responded
immediately from the top of the hill," Ngirabatware said.
By Thursday morning, the RPF had got to within about 25 kilometres (15
miles) of Gisenyi, the last holdout of the former government, the
minister said.
Panicking refugees fled toward the border where Zairean policemen fired
into the air in a vain attempt to halt the crowds.
Thursday morning it was impossible to push a way through the
tightpacked crowd back into Rwanda. "I came to make sure people could
get through," Ngirabatware said. He was accompanied by the social
affairs minister in the former government, Jean de Dieu Habineza.
According to them, the crowd extended back to Nyundo, 12 kilometres
(seven miles) into Rwanda. By mid-afternoon the river of bodies was
still as strong.
After initially trying to halt the flow, the Zairean authorities gave
up and let everyone through, searching them and confiscating machetes
and grenades.
At Birere, a nearby smaller border crossing, the search for arms and
identity checks rapidly turned into an excuse to plunder the refugees'
belongings, brought with them at such great effort.
The scene repeats itself in the town where the refugees complain they
have been stopped and robbed by soldiers, customs guards, civil guards
and also the civilian population of the lakeside town.
The day before, it was Rwandan government army soldiers that were
robbing the refugees of their last possessions, several said.
At the southern entry into Goma, sticks, machetes and grenades are
piled up by the side of the road. There are perhaps 5,000 people
squatting by the roadside or cutting down branches to light fires.
Inside the town, thousands more wander aimlessly, looking lost,
attempting to find a space to pitch themselves for the night close to
the airport base of the French military intervention.
Caught short by the waves of refugees, staff of the UN High
Commissioner for Refugees attempt to lead people towards three sites
which they hope can cope with 50,000 people.
The British humanitarian group Oxfam says 40,000 others are crammed
into the Unity Stadium, along with a few of their cattle and other
belongings they brought with them.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is worried by the
number of people and the lack of water, sites, and food for them. As of
Thursday, it has only 1,000 tonnes of food in stock, a spokeswoman
says.
"It's clearly not enough," said ICRC spokeswoman Johanna Grombach, who
expects half-a-million refugees in the next few days.
"It's probably one of the largest movements of refugees that we have
had to deal with in years," she said.
ach/pcj/bm
AFP AFP
