UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA - AFRICAN STUDIES CENTER
Zaire: WOA Statement, 11/19/96

Zaire: WOA Statement, 11/19/96

Zaire: WOA Statement
Date distributed (ymd): 961119

Washington Notes on Africa Update

Central Africa Intervention Must Not Reinforce Hutu Extremists or Mobutu Regime

[Note to non-US readers: This posting is provided both for your background information and for possible forwarding to those of your U.S. contacts you think would be interested.]

November 19, 1996

ISSUE: Despite the return of hundreds of thousands of refugees from Zaire to Rwanda over the weekend, conflict in eastern Zaire still poses an immediate threat to the lives of hundreds of thousands of refugees and Zaireans. International military intervention to establish safe corridors for relief and for refugees to return home is still urgent. Equally important is an adequate international civilian presence to support not only feeding but reintegration and protection of human rights for returned refugees. It is extremely important, however, that this intervention be carried out in such a way as to address long-term issues, as stressed by the recent Nairobi summit of East African leaders, by human rights organizations, and by non-governmental groups.

The situation is changing rapidly. There is a risk that the dramatic return of half a million refugees to Rwanda will distract attention from the plight of refugees and displaced Zaireans still not reachable (the affected area in eastern Zaire is roughly equivalent in size to the US east coast from Pennsylvania through North Carolina inclusive) and from the massive needs to provide adequate support for resettlement of the refugees. Plans for intervention must be adapted to changes on the ground, but there is still a pressing need for speedy and large-scale action by the international community.

The guidelines for the intervention adopted by the UN Security Council on November 15 leave room for interpretation. Both the U.S. and Canada, however, say that the force will not attempt to separate the extremist Hutu military groups still in eastern Zaire from genuine refugees. African states, as well as humanitarian organizations and human rights observers familiar with the situation, say that unless this is done the intervention may well promote more conflict even while saving some innocent people from starvation.

The international intervention in 1994 came too late to prevent genocide in Rwanda. It served in practice to reinforce the power of the military forces who orchestrated the killings, who fled with the refugees to Zaire and who still dominate the Rwandan refugee camps there. Unless carefully designed to avoid such an outcome, the current intervention could further reinforce the power of those responsible for genocide, and of the Mobutu regime in Zaire.

The chances of avoiding these pitfalls can be increased if the international community provides financial and logistical support for significant participation in the operation by troops from neutral African countries. In any case, short- term military expediency and humanitarian imperatives must not again be allowed to shove aside longer-term issues.

ACTION: Contact the President and your Members of Congress. Tell them you support U.S. participation in a neutral international military intervention to protect humanitarian relief for refugees and displaced Zaireans in eastern Zaire, but only under certain conditions. Make the following points: * The intervention force should not be used, directly or indirectly, to protect the military forces of Hutu extremists who carried out the 1994 genocide, or the Mobutu regime in Zaire.

* The United States should provide adequate financial and logistical support to neutral African countries willing to participate.

* The United States must give urgent attention to long-term issues, in particular:

(1) creating conditions in Rwanda to facilitate the refugees' return, including expanded human rights monitoring as well as distribution of relief supplies, and

(2) stopping the flow of arms to extremist forces in the region, including both the Hutu extremists now in Zaire and the Burundi government led by Tutsi extremists.
WHEN: Immediately.

WRITE, PHONE OR FAX:

President Bill Clinton
The White House
Washington, DC 20500

White House comment line: (202) 456-1111
White House fax: (202) 456-2883
E-mail: president@whitehouse.gov.

The Honorable ________
U.S. Senate
Washington, DC 20510

The Honorable ________
U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, DC 20515

Capitol switchboard for reaching congressional offices: (202)
224-3121

BACKGROUND: The current crisis stems most directly from the aftermath of the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. Those killings were organized by the former Rwandan government which was led by Hutu extremists with a Nazi-like ideology, explicitly committed to the extermination of all Tutsis and moderate Hutus. They killed more than 500,000 people in the three months of April through June 1994.

There are many different forces involved in the current conflict, and shifting battle lines. The major combatants on one side are the former Rwandan government army and militia-- Hutu extremists responsible for genocide--who control the Hutu refugee camps in eastern Zaire. They have generally been supported by the Zairean government army, much of which, however, has disintegrated and fled west deeper into Zaire. On the other side are the Zairean rebels (mainly Zairean-born Tutsis) who resisted efforts to expel them from Zaire, and won control of the border area in eastern Zaire. They are reportedly trained and armed by the current Rwandan government, which has retaliated against raids from the Hutu extremists in eastern Zaire, and may have troops supporting the Zairean rebels inside Zaire.

After their defeat by the current Rwandan government (predominantly Tutsi), most of the killers fled into neighboring Zaire. They were accompanied by approximately one million refugees. The 1994 humanitarian relief operation focused on feeding these refugees. Since then, most of the refugees have stayed in Zaire rather than returning to Rwanda, many fearing reprisals or discrimination if they return. Others have been intimidated by the Rwandan extremists who control the refugee camps and threaten to kill those who do try to return.

Other Hutu refugees have fled in recent years from Burundi, where the military is led by Tutsi extremists. That regime is being boycotted by neighboring states (including Rwanda) to force it to allow political participation by the Hutu majority.

The social gaps between Tutsi and Hutu in Rwanda and Burundi and between Tutsi and other Zaireans in eastern Zaire have deep historical roots, but have grown wider in the colonial and independence periods. Often wrongly labelled a "tribal" division, the distinction between Tutsi and Hutu (who within each country share a common language and culture) is better compared to a caste distinction, roughly translated as "aristocrats" and "commoners." For extremists on both sides, however, it has come to be perceived as a racial division.

The influx of refugees has further destabilized already chaotic Zaire. Unscrupulous Zairean politicians and soldiers have targeted local Zaireans of Tutsi origin, including many whose families had been living in the area for over two centuries. Last year in North Kivu province Hutu extremist refugees together with local Zairean officials expelled Tutsis from North Kivu. In September local Zairean officials threatened also to expel the Tutsis of South Kivu (known as Banyamulenge). Reportedly armed and trained by the Rwandan government, however, the Banyamulenge fought back. The Zairean army and Hutu refugees were driven out of major East Zairean towns such as Uvira, Bukavu and Goma.

The undisciplined Zairean army has for the most part fled the area, causing disruption to the west, including the next major city, Kisangani. While relief supplies have begun to flow again to some portions of eastern Zaire held by rebels, most refugees or local Zaireans are dispersed in the countryside without food, many still in areas still controlled by the genocide organizers or in combat zones.

Over the weekend, as many as 400,000 refugees returned from Zaire to Rwanda, overwhelming relief agencies on the border, after the Mugunga refugee camp near Goma was abandoned by the Hutu extremist forces who had held the refugees there. The fate of as many more deeper in Zaire, both refugees and Zaireans, both in North Kivu province and in South Kivu province, is unknown.

The situation on the ground is changing daily. But it is clear that urgent assistance is still needed, both in eastern Zaire and in Rwanda as the refugees return to their home areas. Military-supported logistics operations are required in order that UN and non-governmental relief operations can function inside eastern Zaire. In Rwanda the urgent need is not only for relief supplies, but for an adequate international human rights and non-governmental presence throughout the country to facilitate the refugees' return.

Note: Updated information from a variety of sources can be found most conveniently and quickly at (1) http://www.info.usaid.gov/ofda/reliefweb/ (outside North America at http://www.reliefweb.int/) and (2) http://www.africanews.org/greatlakes.html.

Additional statements from U.S. non-governmental relief and development organizations can be found at http://www.interaction.org/zrcrisis.html. Statements by Human Rights Watch/Africa are available at gopher://gopher.humanrights.org:5000/11/int/hrw; HRW/Africa's press releases and public letters are also available on a mailing list (send a message to majordomo@igc.apc.org with "subscribe hrw-news-africa" in the body of the message.)

"When refugee camps were first established in Zaire [in 1994], the international community permitted the civilian and military authorities who had carried out a genocide [in Rwanda] to reassert their control over the refugee population. To fail to separate armed elements from unarmed refugees now would simply repeat the mistake, postponing any real solution to the crisis. The proposed international force cannot simply hand out porridge; it must offer effective protection for the lives and human rights of the refugees." Peter Takirambudde, Director of Human Rights Watch/Africa, November 15, 1996.

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Message-Id: <199611191414.GAA15129@igc3.igc.apc.org> From: "WOA" <woa@igc.apc.org> Date: Tue, 19 Nov 1996 09:10:01 -0500 Subject: Zaire: WOA Statement

Editor: Ali B. Ali-Dinar

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