Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, July 18, 1994 TAG: 9407180019
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: GOMA, ZAIRE LENGTH: Medium
Up to 50 others, mostly children, were trampled to death when terrified Rwandans stampeded across the frontier.
As many as 1 million refugees had crossed into Zaire by the end of the day, ahead of advancing rebels who have captured virtually all of Rwanda. Rwandan government soldiers fleeing their last strongholds joined the exodus.
Mortar shells hit around Goma's airport, cathedral and a market Sunday, killing about 60 people, including children, and wounding many others, the French Foreign Ministry said. The shelling halted desperately needed aid flights to Goma, the ministry said.
It quoted U.N. commander Gen. Romeo Dallaire as saying the shells "were probably fired by the RPF" - the rebel Rwandan Patriotic Front. It warned that France would tolerate no rebel incursions into the security zone for refugees established by French troops in southwestern Rwanda.
Once across the border, many refugees were being robbed at gunpoint by Zairian soldiers.
Relief workers were unable to cope with what one called "the exodus of a nation," with little food and a critical shortage of water raising fears of epidemics and riots.
"Goma is out of control," said Panos Moumtzis, a spokesman for the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees. "We feel defeated and exhausted. It's a nightmare."
Shelling and gunfire triggered the border stampede. A photographer, Charles Caratini, who was at the border shortly afterward, said he saw 30 to 50 bodies, most of them children.
Most of the refugees pouring into Zaire were Hutus who feared revenge by Tutsi-dominated rebels. Militias led by extremist Hutu politicians have been blamed for most of the estimated 200,000 to 500,000 deaths in the tiny Central African country.
No evidence has emerged of widespread reprisals by the rebels, but neither have they halted their advance toward the Zairian border.
More than half a million Rwandans fled earlier into Rwanda's other neighbors: Tanzania, Burundi and Uganda. With the number in Zaire reaching 1 million, it means one in every five Rwandans has fled the country.
Government soldiers were deserting one of their last strongholds, Gisenyi, just across the border from Goma. Rebel radio said the insurgents had entered Gisenyi, which had been the temporary seat of the Hutu government until most of its leaders fled last week.
Dallaire, the U.N. commander, said the rebels were "plowing into it [Gisenyi] right now."
Heavy machine-gun fire and what sounded like mortar or artillery shells began Saturday night in the direction of Gisenyi and increased Sunday.
Dallaire said rebels controlled all of Rwanda except for the zone in the southwest carved out by French troops to protect refugees.
Keywords:
FATALITY
by CNB