Jan.23,1996

The plight of rwandese refugees currently stranded at the border between Burundi and Tanzania sadly reminds the whole world of the overall shaky security situation of the latter in the Great Lakes region, especially in Burundi.

Rwandese refugees have become a scapegoat for any calamity in asylum countries and this is the case with the ongoing civil strife in Burundi.

The wanton shooting in the camps of NTAMBA and MAKAMGA is not an isolated incident that should be taken lightly. It is to be seen in the framework of the ever increasing cooperation between hardliners of the two monolithic armies of Rwanda and Burundi, and is intended to scare off rwandese refugees and force them back home.

Should the Burundi government fails to live up to her international obligations and beef up security around the camps, it is the responsibility of the UNHCR to find alternative safer place to accommodate those refugees.

In this connection, RDR would like to voice its concerns over press reports that UNHCR may be contemplating rather

to "persuade " stranded refugees to "voluntarily" return home. This would amount to nothing but playing in the hand of those cowards who sprayed the camps with bullets.

RDR calls upon the United Nations to very urgently revive its fading plan to convene an international conference on the security in the Great Lakes region, in order to find a comprehensive solution to the whole rwandese ( and burundian ) refugee issue. Half measure policies should be discarded, because they are compounding further the crisis.

For RDR

Chris NZABANDORA

Director of Information