Relief agencies have been caught in the crossfire as Tutsi and Hutu ethnic clashes intensified recently in Zaire, Rwanda, and Burundi. Starvation, malaria, and dysentery are other threats in the region overrun by rebels and refugees.
More than 900,000 Rwandan refugees walked out of refugee camps in Zaire in November as armed Rwandan Hutu militants—who carried out genocide of Tutsis in 1994 and controlled the camps afterwards—began fighting Zairean soldiers.
Zairean Tutsi rebels and the Tutsi-dominated army of Rwanda also are in the mix, with each of the four factional fighting groups threatening to cut off aid destined for refugees.
A United Nations plan to intervene to protect the refugees and relief workers with up to 15,000 troops disintegrated when refugees began the mass exodus.
In addition to providing them with food and blankets, the Wheaton, Illinois-based World Relief is helping resettled Rwandans start home-based businesses. World Relief also is settling housing disputes. Returning refugees have found their homes damaged or occupied by Tutsis.
Seattle-based World Concern has been trying to reunite displaced children with their families. “The children are the real victims of this tragedy,” says World Concern’s Al York. “We must be an example of love and forgiveness so the hatred will stop with this generation.”
Other organizations active in Zaire and Rwanda include Christian Blind Mission International, Food for the Hungry, Christian Reformed World Relief Committee, Baptist World Aid, Adventist Development and Relief Agency, MAP International, the Salvation Army, and World Vision.
The ethnic clashes have roots that are centuries old, but they intensified with the mysterious plane crash deaths of the Hutu presidents of Rwanda and Burundi (CT, May 16, 1994, p. 54).
Tutsi rebels gained control of the government, but Hutu militia mounted a campaign to rid Rwanda of Tutsis, exterminating an estimated million of them (CT, Feb. 6, 1995, p. 52). Hutus fled to camps in Zaire in fear of reprisals.
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