Nairobi, October 22, 1996

The situation in Eastern Zaire hosting more than 1 million rwandese (and burundian ) refugees is slowly getting out of hands and may result in a tragedy if not checked in time.

Indeed, attacks by the BANYAMURENGE on refugee camps in UVIRA and by marauding tutsi rebels in north Kivu, disguised in BANGILIMA MAYI MAYI rebels, has proved beyond any doubt that the old dream of a HIMA-TUTSI empire unfolding in its implementation.

The attacks in Northern and Southern Kivu comes in the wake of a long trip of the KIGALI strong man, Paul KAGAME in South Africa, ZIMBAMBWE and ISRAEL, carrying a long shopping list of the latest war technology.

In its press release nº 85 dated June 17, 1996, the Rally for the Return of Refugees and Democracy in Rwanda (RDR) warned the international community against a combined attack against rwandan and burundian refugees in eastern Zaïre mounted by a combined force made of up of Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi troops using advance troops inside Zaïre composed of ethnic tutsi who fought alongside the MUSEVENI's NRA and RPF in their march to power in Uganda and Rwanda respectively. According to eyewitnesses about 1000 BANYAMURENGE fighters (zaïrean tutsi) crossed into Zaïre through Burundi in the night of 21^st - 22^nd September 1996.

In its release, RPF had stated "RDR" would like to warn the international community that if such an expedition (the joint attack Uganda-Rwanda and Burundi armies) would be executed it would be held responsible by commission or omission for such heinous and morally unacceptable adventure.

"The RDR had consequently called on" the international community to do everything possible to follow up the issue urgently and act pre-emptively". In the usual policy of appeasement towards the RPF government and its political allies brushed aside that SOS message.

In providing both logistical and material support to the rebellion led by zairean tutsi (BANYAMURENGE), the Rwanda and Burundi tutsi-led governments, hope to destabilise hutu refugee camps in eastern Zaïre accused of constituting potential bases for hutu attacks against their regimes. According to an aid worker quoted in an article written by NICHOLAS KOTCH and published by the Uganda government owned newspaper the NEW VISION on 19^th and 21^th October 1996, the "Tutsi armies in Rwanda and Burundi are saying : let's get this fight into someone else's backyard and Zaïre will be less cocky above supporting them "(refugees) since the rebellion started, hutu refugee camps in Zaïre have been targets of Banyamulenge rebels forcing more than 250.000 rwandan and burundian refugees living around UVIRA to flee.

With regard to refugee camps in north KIVU, RDR had also warned once again the international community against the looming attack against refugees camps and pointing out trial raids and infiltration which were being carried out in order to test the resolve of the Zaïre army to react to future organised attacks. This was contained in its press release of July 1, 1996.

The Burundi and Rwanda tutsi led governments are hoping that refugees will either ran back home or have camps pushed far inside Zaïre.

Attacks have not only targeted refugees camps but also supply routes to refugee camps. Supply routes to refugee camps in Eastern Zaïre are all being attacked both in the north and south of KIVU respectively by elements from Uganda and the Banyamulenge in coordinated effort to starve refugees. The strategy has already paid because the WFP recently announced that it was suspending supplies from the southern route via Dar-Es-Salaam port because of the insecurity created by the BANYAMURENGE. the remaining route is therefore trough Uganda but the attacks on the area of BUNAGANA will very soon make it also impracticable. Uganda has already threatened to close that border alleging fictitious infiltrations of Interahamwe from the nearby refugee camps.

The Rwanda and Burundi tutsi led governments are following closely the health situation of President MOBUTU and count on a possible deterioration of his health and an eventual disintegration of Zaïre in which case the BANYAMURENGE and ethnic tutsi in eastern Zaïre could curve for themselves a belt along the border with Burundi, Rwanda and Uganda, thus creating a security belt for the Burundi and Rwanda regimes. The Tutsi-led government in Rwanda has already established tutsilands inside Rwanda along the Uganda Tanzania and Burundi borders.

The interest of Uganda is to save its satellite states of Rwanda and Burundi. president MUSEVENI declared on the occasion of his visit to Rwanda in August 1995 in Gisenyi town which is on the border with Zaïre that his "army NRA still has the capacity and determination to defend the RPF regime against "reactionary forces" based in Zaïre".

To prepare the public opinion to this plan the Uganda Government owned newspaper the New Vision (see New Vision of October 19th and 21th) run a series of articles calling on the international community to "squeeze Goma to solve the Central Africa Warfare". The author or authors of the articles who hardly hide their theory of tutsi internationalism stretch their imagination to unparalleled bounds by stating that CNDD of Burundi is a wing of MRND and declaring arrogantly that "peace will be restored in Central Africa only if the source of pollution is cleaned up", meaning that any force opposed to tutsi political hegemony and repression are sources of political pollution.

Other extra african forces who want refugees to go back home at any cost to save money spent on feeding refugees and wish to save the unpopular RPF and BUYOYA regimes are happy and working behind the scenes in support of the Burundi and Rwandan involvement in creating an insecure environment for refugees. This environment will make it easier to carry out the much awaited repatriation plan of refugees. In this connection a campaign has already been mounted in the media to say that there is more security in Rwanda than there is in eastern Zaïre.

RDR would like once again to warn the international community against the impending disaster fuelled by its policy of appeasement to the expansionist policies of the tutsi led governments in Rwanda and Burundi. It should be recalled that such an appeasement policy towards HITLER expansionist policy led to the 2^nd world war.