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Aid workers caught in heavy Zaire fighting
Might have to abandon massive relief operations
October 31, 1996
Web posted at: 10:15 a.m. EST (1515 GMT)
In this story:
(CNN) -- With heavy artillery fire so close "it sends shivers through you," aid workers were preparing to leave Goma, the center of refugee relief operations in eastern Zaire where Tutsi rebels are battling Zairian government troops.
A pullout would cause "a humanitarian catastrophe," said Augustine Mahiga, regional coordinator of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). "We cannot imagine what will happen to the refugees if there is no assistance. It is really going to be a disaster."
Goma is the administrative headquarters for international relief operations to feed 1.1 million Hutus from neighboring Rwanda who crossed into Zaire after ethnic massacres in 1994 and now live in massive refugee camps.
There were conflicting reports on whether rebels had captured the Goma airport. There was also unconfirmed information that that U.N. relief workers had been ambushed, with casualties, in Bukavu, a Zairian city to the south of Goma.
'Highly volatile, ever changing'
The airport is about two and a half miles (four km) north of the city and a key target because aid agencies use it to bring in staff and supplies for refugees and the Zairian military has been bringing in army reinforcements in recent days through it.
Michele Quintaglie, World Food Program, reports from Goma
It just sends shivers ... (198K / 9 sec. AIFF or WAV sound)
Our main concern is Goma ... A tremendous humanitarian crisis ...
A pull-out by aid agencies would leave the refugees, in close proximity to hostile Tutsi forces, without any obvious means of support. The agencies have been struggling to feed the refugees and improve hygiene in the huge camps.
"The situation is extremely tense, highly volatile and ever changing," Michele Quintaglie of the United Nation's World Food Program told CNN during a telephone interview aired live from Goma.
"Heavy artillery was fired, probably less than a kilometer (half-mile) from us that shook our building to a point where it just sends shivers through you. It's incredible," she said. It was not immediately clear which side had fired the heavy weapons.
"We are still receiving contradictory information about the status of the airport," said another aid official. Panos Moumtzis, spokesman for the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees initially said the airport had been taken over by rebels and that the information was confirmed from the Zairian side. But he later said Zairian sources told UNHCR the airport remained in Zairian army hands.
"Aid agencies have been told to prepare for a 70 to 100 percent evacuation from Goma" to neighboring Rwanda, said Steve Pratt of CARE International.
Mahiga, the UNHCR coordinator, said there were "unconfirmed reports that some of our local staff from Bukavu who were trying to leave the town ran into an ambush. We've heard of casualties -- dead and wounded -- but we don't know the numbers, we don't know the location."
Another concern for aid workers was the movement of about 115,000 Rwandan Hutu refugees who fled from the Kahindo camp 40 miles (60 km) north of Goma on Thursday because of nearby fighting.
The refugees were heading south towards Mugunga camp, near Goma, which is already overflowing with 400,000 people. Zairians, themselves, have also come to the camps by the thousands, hoping to escape the violence.
Aid workers said they feared the fighting could set off yet another mass exodus from Katale camp, sheltering more than 200,000 Rwandan Hutus, near Kahindo.
Reuters contributed to this report.
Related stories:
- Archbishop killed as rebels rout Zairian army - October 30, 1996
- U.N.: Refugee 'disaster' looms in Zaire - October 22, 1996
- Refugees flee fighting in eastern Zaire - October 21, 1996
- Zaire refugee camps site of new ethnic killing - October 13, 1996
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