Citation
KINSHASA, April 16 (Reuter) - Rwandan border guards have closed the
frontier with Zaire, halting the flood of refugees fleeing ethnic
reprisals, a U.N. spokesman said on Saturday.
Hubert Edongo, regional representative for central Africa for the U.N.
High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), said around 10,000 refugees had
fled into the Goma region of eastern Zaire, but there was no saying how
many were now blocked at the border.
We expect to see many more than 10,000 coming across if the border is
reopened,
he said.
Many of the refugees are members of Rwanda's minority Tutsi tribe, but
they have also included Zaireans who had settled in Rwanda and a
sprinkling of Belgian, German, French, Canadian, Dutch and British
expatriates.
With most expatriates now evacuated via Burundi, the remaining refugees
are being lodged in convents, hostels, schools and makeshift camps as
international aid agencies rush tents and blankets to the area.
Edongo confirmed reports Zaire had granted political asylum to 160
Rwandan government officials and their families who fled to the Burundi
capital of Bujumbura after the two countries presidents were killed
when rockets hit their plane.
The officials, who asked to leave Bujumbura because of local hostility,
have been flown to the eastern Zairean town of Bukavu.
(c) Reuters Limited 1994
