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Zaire refugee airlift faces obstacles
April 6, 1997
Latest developments:
Web posted at: 2:50 p.m. EST (0650 GMT)Larger planes sought Refugees welcome airlift reports Peace talks continue Related stories and sites KISANGANI, Zaire (CNN) -- The United Nations refugee agency worked Sunday to overcome the daunting logistical and political obstacles of airlifting more than 100,000 Rwandan Hutu refugees from Zaire to their homeland.
The airlift is aimed at relieving the refugee crisis in Zaire, where Rwandan refugees are dying at the rate of 120 a day in makeshift camps. The evacuation is expected to begin this week and could take as long as three months to complete.
"We're hoping this word gets to other people who may be in the surrounding areas so we can draw more (refugees) as the movement begins from the forest," Paul Stromberg, spokesman for the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, told CNN.
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The refugee agency received approval for the airlift on Saturday from Zairian rebels, who control Kisangani and its airport, which will serve as a base for the operation. The agency hopes to find enough cargo planes to carry 1,500 refugees a day.
"With the equipment we have we can start this week," Stromberg said. "But for big numbers we need larger planes, which we are trying to get now."
Further hampering airlift efforts, most airports in the region are decrepit. Also, trains that would be used to transport refugees are aging. Trucks, cars and other forms of transportation are equally poor. It's also the rainy season, and Kisangani was soaked by a tropical deluge Sunday.
Other key issues have yet to be resolved, including the fact that Rwanda has not confirmed whether it will accept planes flying in.
"We will have to make sure we can repatriate the largest number possible, simply by administering all the health and food that these people need," Stromberg said.
Refugees welcome airlift reports
More than 500,000 Rwandan Hutu refugees have been wandering the jungles of Zaire since September, when rebels swept through much of the eastern half of the nation. Food supplies and aid are limited, and many of the refugees resemble walking cadavers.
News of the UNHCR airlift has begun spreading through the squalid makeshift camps south of Kisangani, where the refugees are barely surviving on relief rations.
"Most of us have heard about this on the radio. It is very good because if we stay here surely everyone will die," refugee Tenace Kabera said from Kasese, 15 miles (25 km) south of Kisangani where 50,000 Hutus are camped.
One woman carried her dead 4-year-old in her arms. "I want to go back," she mourned. "I'm hungry, I'm sick and my children are dying."
Zaire peace negotiations between the government and rebels, meanwhile, carried on for the second consecutive day Sunday, with both sides remaining tight-lipped about the progress of the talks.
No one involved would say where the talks were being held in South Africa or even characterize the tone of the discussions.
Representatives of the Zaire government and the rebels said they could not comment until the talks were concluded.
The two sides, meeting face to face for the first time, exchanged ideas on an informal basis Saturday because they were still waiting for the last government representatives to fly in that night. The talks opened at the government Union Buildings in Pretoria on Saturday.
Related stories:
- Zairian prime minister offers to share power - April 3, 1997
- The roots of Zaire's unrest - April 2, 1997
- Zaire rebels: New prime minister changes nothing - April 2, 1997
- Zaire's trail of death - March 29, 1997
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