Closing Rwandan Camps That Represent a Security Problem: A Visit to Cyanika

United Nations and Rwandan officials said in January 1995 that the closure of camps housing hundreds of thousands of displaced persons in the southwest of Rwanda was a critical step toward restoring stability in the country. But many of the displaced members of the Hutu ethnic community were still fearful of reprisals if they left and defied UN and Rwandan efforts to get them to go home. I visited one of the biggest camps in the southwest at Cyanika:

At one point last year, the Cyanika camp outside Gikongoro held an estimated 50-thousand displaced Hutus. They had fled their homes in fear of retribution after the Hutu-led massacres of more than half a million Rwandans, most of them members of the ethnic Tutsi minority.

Initially, the displaced found shelter in the southwest of the country, where French intervention forces established a so-called humanitarian safe zone. When the French troops pulled out last August, many of the Hutu refugees fled into neighboring countries.

Others stayed on and eventually decided to return to their original homes elsewhere in Rwanda.

But relief workers say some 15 thousand people still remain at Cyanika - - and these refugees are now engaged in what amounts to a showdown with the United Nations and authorities of Rwanda's new Tutsi-installed government.

Both the UN and the Rwandan government want the displaced of Cyanika - - and about 330 thousand other Hutus still living in the former French security zone - - to go home. Officials cite a variety of reasons, but the main one is that the camps represent a serious internal security problem.

A UN briefing paper says many of the authors of last year's genocide are still believed to be hiding in the camps. The document also describes the camps as safe havens and potential bases from which extremist elements loyal to the ousted Hutu-led government can initiate destabilizing raids.

Initial UN efforts to persuade the displaced to go home voluntarily met with mixed results and Rwandan authorities threatened to close the camps by force. But ultimately, a new strategy was adopted.

Under this plan, now under way at Cyanika, the refugees late last month were given one last food distribution consisting of three weeks worth of provisions. In a further effort to prompt them to leave, supplies of treated water were discontinued late last week.

UN vehicles now come six days a week to Cyanika to offer the displaced Hutus free transport home. Yet thousands still refuse to leave.

Aid workers in the camp say many cannot believe they will receive no further assistance - - especially if disease and malnutrition begin to show signs of a dramatic increase. Most of the displaced say their main reason for staying is fear of Tutsi retaliation if they return to their villages. In interviews, they repeatedly tell stories of refugees who went back to their villages and who were allegedly killed.

There have been cases of revenge killings and arbitrary detentions of returning Hutus. But overall, human rights monitors say there is no evidence of any systematic reprisal campaign being carried out by Rwanda's new authorities.

Instead, UN officials say that what they call a mischievous misinformation campaign is at work in the camps - - combined with a campaign of intimidation. They blame these campaigns on the same forces responsible for last year's slaughter who they say are working to block a normalization process in Rwanda.

It's not clear what will happen now at Cyanika. But some of the refugees insist they would rather leave Rwanda or risk starving to death rather than go home if the camp is closed.

Note: For some technical reason, yesterday's posting: A Kigali Wedding: Life Goes On failed to register on some displays. It is definitely there now and I trust those who may have missed it will visit the page. Thanks.