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U.S. troops to assist with African relief force
November 13, 1996
Web posted at: 3:30 p.m. EST (2030 GMT)
In this story:
- Aid resumes after shelling
- Missing refugees
- Chirac: Political neutrality is key
- Related stories and sites
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The United States will participate in "a limited fashion" in a multinational force aimed at easing the humanitarian crisis in eastern Zaire, the White House announced Wednesday.
Some 1,000 U.S. ground troops are to deployed to Zaire and several thousand others are to be sent to the region to supply support activities, White House press secretary Mike McCurry said.
But McCurry said President Clinton has several conditions he wants met before committing troops to the central African nation. "In principle, (Clinton) agrees U.S. participation is vital," McCurry said.
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U.S. Defense Secretary William Perry said the U.S. is "anticipating about 1,000 troops in the Goma area, and the Goma airfield area". It also appears that a total of as many as 4,000 more U.S. troops will be moved to "neighboring countries" in support roles, according to spokesmen.
Fighting in eastern Zaire between Tutsi-dominated rebels and Zairian troops has displaced more than one million Rwandan and Burundian refugees and left them cut off from international assistance.
McCurry said the goal of the multinational task force is two-fold: to facilitate the delivery of humanitarian aid by civilian relief organizations and repatriation of refugees by the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees.
American soldiers are to be under U.S. command, although the operation will be run by Canada, McCurry said.
National Security Adviser Tony Lake met with a high-ranking Canadian delegation Tuesday. McCurry said the parties agreed on a series of conditions for U.S. support, including:
- The mission would last about four months. At that time, the U.S. would examine whether more time or troops were needed to keep the situation from worsening again.
- The international force will have "very robust rules of engagement."
- The U.S. mission will not include disarming militants or forcing entry in Zaire.
- The cost of the mission would be borne by participating states.
In Paris, officials from France and the United States were trying to iron out their differences over the multinational effort.
France said it was prepared to send 600 paratroopers to Zaire within 24 hours of U.N. approval for an international force, and to send an additional 600 a day later. But French officials said it was essential that Washington commit its own troops on the ground to the mission.
Aid resumes after shelling
Aid workers resumed unloading food for starving refugees in the Zairian town of Goma on Wednesday after three artillery shells crashed near a hospital compound, aid officials said.
In Goma, aid workers said a shell exploded by Goma Central Hospital as a truck carrying food was being unloaded and two more shells hit in or near the compound. No casualties were reported.
The food, medical supplies and blankets arrived in Goma from Rwanda on Monday, but distribution was delayed until Wednesday by talks between rebels and aid agency officials. Some refugees were trampled in a rush for food.
The supplies are intended for Hutu refugees who fled their camps in eastern Zaire when fighting broke out three weeks ago between the rebels and the Zairian army.
Wednesday's shelling erupted after rebels fired at an unidentified twin-propeller light plane flying repeatedly over Goma, saying they suspected it was carrying French troops. Apparently, it was not hit.
Shells fired into Goma may have come from 7 miles northwest of the town, where Rwandan Hutu militia are believed to be camped.
Missing refugees
More than a million refugees, mostly Rwandans, continue to roam around eastern Zaire rather than return home, while thousands of Zairians fleeing fighting have crossed into the neighboring countries of Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda, boosting the region's refugee population to higher levels, a spokesman for the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said Wednesday.
The UNHCR and other humanitarian organizations remained unable to shed light on exactly where most of the 1.2 million Rwandan and Burundi refugees are.
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Chirac: Political neutrality is key
French President Jacques Chirac said Wednesday that a "politically neutral" multinational force should intervene in Zaire, hours after Zairian rebels threatened to shoot at French troops.
"The time for unilateral intervention (in Africa) is over" because such missions "are no longer accepted," Chirac said, referring to the criticism France drew after it intervened during the Rwanda crisis in 1994.
U.S. Secretary of State Warren Christopher was scheduled to meet his French counterpart Herve de Charette for a working dinner Wednesday evening. Diplomatic sources said a U.S. decision on the role of the two countries within the international force would depend in part on the talks.
The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
Related stories:
- World Food Summit opens with plea for Zaire refugees - November 13, 1996
- U.S. assessment team going to Central Africa - November 12, 1996
- Canada offers to lead mission into Zaire - November 12, 1996
- Initial aid teams reach towns in eastern Zaire - November 11, 1996
- Zairian Tutsi rebels permit humanitarian aid corridor - November 10, 1996
- Refugees begin trickling home from Zaire - November 9, 1996
Related sites:
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- American Red Cross: Crisis in Eastern Zaire
- Zaire Watch
- U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees
- Rwanda Page
- City.Net:Zaire
- Save The Children
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