European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - August 27, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Saturday August 27, 1994 inside Africa the stars and stripes Page 3 strife intensifies in Zaire Camps a a workers facing violence . Officials say Bukavu Zaire a violence is rising  teeming refugee Camps along the rwandan Border. . Officials say some Aid workers fix ing water systems were forced to flee after being accused of poisoning Refu gees. None of the workers was injured but they abandoned the Camps for sever Al hours thursday afternoon said Kris Janwski a spokesman for the . High. Commissioner for refugees in Bukavu. What is alarming is there seems to be a pattern of incidents in Goma and Here that threatens Aid workers he said. The same menacing development is of curing in Goma another Border town 60 Miles to the North where some 850,000 rwandan refugees Are sheltered said Janowski s counterpart Ray Wilkinson. In just about every Camp now there Are daily murders Wilkinson said. Tension is rising in All the Camps. Aid workers Are very concerned about the level of violence and they fear getting engulfed in the  six americans working for the International Rescue committee were treating water thursday to prevent cholera at Inera Camp about 19 Miles from Bukavu. Agitators among the refugees accused them of poisoning the water Janowski  two other Bukavu area Camps workers for the French Charity doctors without Borders were accused of Poison ing refugees with medicines. In each Case Wilkinson said the scene got quite ugly and the Aid workers thought it prudent to  More than 320,000 refugees Are being housed in More than a dozen Camps in the Bukavu Region. Many Are new arrivals who crossed int6 Zaire when French sol Diers pulled out of a protective zone in southwestern Rwanda on monday most of the refugees in the Goma and Bukavu Camps Are huts. They fear reprisals by the rwandan patriotic front for the massacres of up to 500,000 Tutsi by militias and thugs Allied with the for Mer Hutu led government. The front is a Tutsi led rebel movement that ousted the Hutu Reg Irhe in 14 weeks of fighting and established a new government in july in Kigali the capital Wilkinson said . Efforts to. Get Zaire to help provide Security have been unsuccessful. Aid workers have asked for Protection by . Peacekeepers but that would require Security Council approval and no action has been taken. Wilkinson said a zairian mob looted Aid supplies after american troops pulled out of a base near the Goma Airport fearful refugees make trek Back to Rwanda thursday. When the americans pulled out they left some equipment. About .200 to 300 zairian came Over the wire mesh and there was a tug of War. They stripped the place clean he said. Also thursday gangs of zairian sol Diers looted Homes of civilians in Goma and then fought with one another Over the Booty. Witnesses said they saw the bodies of a least two zairian soldiers. The increasing violence harassment and intimidation have forced the United nations to Shelve plans to repatriate refugees in Large groups in trucks and buses. Several people have been hacked or beaten to death for trying to urge their fellow refugees to return to their Homes in Rwanda. . Officials blame thugs Loyal to the ousted Hutu government for the slayings. $ a a a is Ken George rwandan refugee Tisa Hiwa Tite and her family have re turned to Rwanda saying it is time for her and her fam ily to take their future into their own hands. By sue Palumbo staff writer Kigali Rwanda the refugees huddled in the Back of the truck clutching the remnants of their for Mer lives As if holding on to life itself. A bundle of clothing or a battered suitcase was All some refugees had since fleeing War torn Rwanda for the safety of Zaire. But now As they return Many of the refugees Are hoping for a new life in their old Home. I came Back because this is my country said Kayi Tesi Bireme a Tutsi Mother of eight children who recently chose to return to Kigali Rwanda. I think it is Safe Here now.". Several thousand refugees have decided to return to Rwanda bit their movement is characterized As Only a trickle by . Representatives. More than 2 million remain in neighbouring Zaire. As the French pulled out of their Security zone this week the numbers of Refu gees flocking to Zaire have mounted steadily. The mass Slaughter of Tutsi from april through july sent both Tutsi and huts running. In july Hutu Lead ers warned members of their tribe that the Tutsi who Are now leading the government would seek retribution against the huts if they returned to Rwanda. This triggered another mass exodus. Although members of both tribes sought Refuge in Zaire they remained in separate Camps Fabien Abanda a Tutsi priest said his group of about 60 people hid in a zairian military Camp. He said they decided to leave because they feared for their safety there. That Camp now hosts 14,000 Hutu soldiers Kaban a said. We were living with a military chaplain but the whole atmosphere was becoming very aggressive. The Hutu military is not being governed by  Abanda said the Hutu soldiers Are armed despite reports to the contrary by the Media Hutu leaders and the zairian government. I have seen the weapons he said. Of the More than 1,000 refugees who took advantage of the . Offer for transportation Back to Kigali All but a handful were from the Tutsi tribe. Those who were Hutu were women married to Tutsi men. Many others had left Rwanda years earlier and decided to re turn because the Tutsi dominated rwandan patriotic front promised , few huts feel those promises pertain to All rwandans. Michael a Hutu who fled with his Mother and six siblings said he attempted to return Home to Kigali with a female  wanted to pick his Friend up from her House the next morning after they gathered More supplies to take Back to Goma Zaire. When he arrived at her Home the electricity was Cut and she was dead. Later when he tried to return to Zaire rwandan patriotic front soldiers did not allow him to Cross the Border. . Representatives have refused to Tell refugees to go Home. However they will assist All those who choose to return. . Officials not Only will pick up people and take them Home but they also will Issue food blankets and other supplies. Refugees on the . Trucks were rarely searched or asked to provide paperwork at any of the 17 checkpoints leading to Kigali. We cannot guarantee anything said Adelmo Risi a representative from the . High commissioner for refugees in Rwanda. They should know what is Hap pening because it is their country. What we can do is ensure there is a Large presence of no government organizations in the  Risi said the Unher cannot guarantee that return ing refugees will have a Home to return to. However the new rwandan government did say that those who had the proper documents to prove ownership of prop erty would have it returned he said. For Muk Aranaha Athanasie and his wife Tisa Hiwa Tite the unknown in Kigali is better than the certainty of the refugee Camps. Despite humanitarian Aid and medical attention the Camps remain disease Ridden and often violent. Athanasie a Tutsi and his Hutu wife decided it would be better to take their future into their own  was a time when i was afraid to say i was Tutsi and now my wife is afraid to say she is Hutu said Athanasie. We Only Hope that one Day we Only have to say we Are rwandans.1 " splines by the stars and stripes Entebbe Uganda . Personnel and aircraft in Africa Are supporting the French pullout from Goma Zaire until the end of the month a european come statement said. Military aircraft from the command began a series of six Airlift missions tues Day that Are transporting French troops and equipment from Goma to various locations in France the release said. The French soldiers Are returning Home after participating in the French military s humanitarian Mission to Africa helping ferry Back Home dubbed operation Turquoise. The . Transports will deliver their cargos at Entebbe and Kigali rwandans scheduled and then Stop in Goma to pick up the French As they return to Europe the statement said. The american air planes Are not being used specifically for the French pullout. . Aircraft flying the French already were scheduled to return to Europe the release said. The Airlift support of French forces is being done under a 1987 agreement for joint . And French logistical support the statement said. . Intervention forestalled Burundi Slaughter official says Geneva a timely intervention by . Human rights workers in Burundi May have prevented an ethnic Bloodbath similar to neighbor ing Rwanda a a top . Official said thursday it is my conviction that in Burundi we were on time with preventative action said jos6 Ayala Lasso the . High commissioner for human rights. He was returning from a one week Mission to Burundi Rwanda and Malawi. The United nations began technical assistance to Burundi in june financed by $2 million in International donations. The program includes human rights education for children training for the police and armed forces and improvements in the judicial system. The tiny crowded african state of 5.5 million people has the same explosive ethnic mix As Rwanda which erupted in civil War earlier this year. As in Rwanda Tutsi in Burundi were Long the powerful elite despite making up Only 15 percent of the population