Hutu Killers On the Loose

With the French gone, there was a resurgence in violent activities by armed former Rwandan government soldiers and civilian Hutu militia in the southwestern part of the country. In August 1994, a UN military spokesman said new measures to cope with the problem would soon be unveiled. In the meantime, the spokesman insisted the area was still secure enough for refugees to return to homes there. Not everyone agreed.

UN military spokesman Jean-Guy Plante gives virtually no details and downplays the significance of recent incidents in the southwest involving armed elements loyal to Rwanda's ousted Hutu-led government.

“Nothing is happening there that is out of control or that we're not capable of handling.”

But Major Plante tells reporters there has been what he terms a slight increase in shooting incidents as well as acts intimidation and banditry in the former French-patrolled humanitarian protection zone.

“We are concerned and we are monitoring the situation very, very closely. Don't forget we've got two-thousand soldiers in this area (southwest).”

Yet the UN military spokesman says none of the UN military personnel deployed in southwestern Rwanda have had what he terms any significant confrontations with former government soldiers or members of the extremist Hutu Interahamwe militia. Nor, says Major Plante, have UN forces apprehended any of these elements.

Still, he says UN authorities are not considering any increase in the number of international peacekeepers in the southwest. But Major Plante says the United Nations will soon announce other concrete measures designed to respond to the problem. He gives no details.

Nevertheless, the UN military spokesman says without qualification that the region is safe enough for Rwandan refugees to return to home there.

“I can say without hesitation that they (refugees) can come back home.”

UN relief workers, speaking on condition of anonymity, challenged that view, however. They tell reporters they do not believe security can yet be guaranteed in the southwest.

But aid officials say they are working to help create an atmosphere of confidence in the former French zone, one in which they hope the extent of international reconstruction and rehabilitation efforts make the notion of a return home attractive to refugees.

Troops of the new Tutsi-installed government that has taken power following Rwanda's bloody civil war have yet to be deployed in the southwest. The new government has, however, announced plans to send members of a civilian administration into the area.