I have to apologize. In the version of the following as originally posted, I got my dates wrong and ran the item out of sequence. Instead of the expulsions being in early April 1995, and thus immediately after the first anniversary ceremonies marking the Rwandan genocide, the expulsions were in fact in late August 1995 --- after some other tumultuous events. Rather than delete the posting, I will correct it now and let it stand.
Zairean troops in August 1995 expelled hundreds of Rwandan refugees from camps in eastern Zaire back across the border despite international protests. I went again to Goma, where the largest camps were and found that there might be a positive aspect to the controversial operation.
One relief worker calls the Zairean military operation a break in the refugee deadlock -- a break in which Zairean troops appear to have broken the grip of extremist Hutu leaders in the camps. Those leaders had been repeatedly accused of using violence and other forms of intimidation in the past to keep some of the more than one million refugees in Zaire from returning home.
Now, even UN officials admit refugees are stepping forward and offering to board trucks and buses commandeered by Zairean troops to be taken to the border. They say the camp leaders are rarely seen these days.
At the crossing point in Goma on this day, truckloads of refugees -- men, women and children -- were offloading on the Zairean side and lining up to board waiting vehicles on the Rwandan side. Most had but a few meager possessions. But there was no sense of fear or panic. There were even a few smiles.
One refugee said: now we can go home without intimidation.
Still the operation has not been without incident. Aid workers say Zairean forces were initially quite rough with the refugees and many were separated from their families. Two or three refugees are said to have suffered gunshot wounds when the Zairean round-up began.
UN officials say the behavior of the Zairean soldiers has now improved -- especially after a small group was disciplined for excessive looting.
Fear of the Zaireans appears to be a factor in the decisions of many refugees to go back to Rwanda. Some say that, when they fled to Zaire last year, they thought it was a safe place. Now, they say it is not.
Despite uncertainties about the reception they will receive back in Rwanda, they prefer to take their chances there rather than risk staying on in Zaire any longer.
Many refugees -- especially men thought to be linked to last year's genocide -- have however chosen to flee the Zairean camps and seek shelter in the countryside beyond the reach of the Zairean soldiers who might force them back home. The United Nations estimates about 80 thousand have fled so far, many of them Burundians from the Uvira camp to the south. Aid workers are worried about the fate of these refugees, but overall they say there is no sense of emergency.
Instead, UN officials say they are trying to turn what one of them called a haphazard and often-unpleasant forced military operation into a measured and voluntary one in which humanitarian principles are observed. After all, said one senior relief official, the goal has always been to get the refugees home.
One relief worker calls the Zairean military operation a break in the refugee deadlock -- a break in which Zairean troops appear to have broken the grip of extremist Hutu leaders in the camps. Those leaders had been repeatedly accused of using violence and other forms of intimidation in the past to keep some of the more than one million refugees in Zaire from returning home.
Now, even UN officials admit refugees are stepping forward and offering to board trucks and buses commandeered by Zairean troops to be taken to the border. They say the camp leaders are rarely seen these days.
At the crossing point in Goma on this day, truckloads of refugees -- men, women and children -- were offloading on the Zairean side and lining up to board waiting vehicles on the Rwandan side. Most had but a few meager possessions. But there was no sense of fear or panic. There were even a few smiles.
One refugee said: now we can go home without intimidation.
Still the operation has not been without incident. Aid workers say Zairean forces were initially quite rough with the refugees and many were separated from their families. Two or three refugees are said to have suffered gunshot wounds when the Zairean round-up began.
UN officials say the behavior of the Zairean soldiers has now improved -- especially after a small group was disciplined for excessive looting.
Fear of the Zaireans appears to be a factor in the decisions of many refugees to go back to Rwanda. Some say that, when they fled to Zaire last year, they thought it was a safe place. Now, they say it is not.
Despite uncertainties about the reception they will receive back in Rwanda, they prefer to take their chances there rather than risk staying on in Zaire any longer.
Many refugees -- especially men thought to be linked to last year's genocide -- have however chosen to flee the Zairean camps and seek shelter in the countryside beyond the reach of the Zairean soldiers who might force them back home. The United Nations estimates about 80 thousand have fled so far, many of them Burundians from the Uvira camp to the south. Aid workers are worried about the fate of these refugees, but overall they say there is no sense of emergency.
Instead, UN officials say they are trying to turn what one of them called a haphazard and often-unpleasant forced military operation into a measured and voluntary one in which humanitarian principles are observed. After all, said one senior relief official, the goal has always been to get the refugees home.
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