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U.N. withdraws some staff from eastern Congo

Congo may expel other humanitarian groups from area

October 6, 1997
Web posted at: 2:56 p.m. EDT (1856 GMT)

KINSHASA, Congo (CNN) -- The United Nations' High Commission for Refugees said Monday it had flown some staff members out of the eastern Congo town of Goma, following the Congolese government's orders Friday for the humanitarian agency to withdraw from the region.

Meanwhile, Congo says it may expel several other refugee agencies from eastern Congo as well.

The UNHCR expulsion followed events in neighboring Rwanda, where the army is fighting a counterinsurgency campaign.

The United Nations said a new wave of Rwandan refugees have fled to neighboring Congo to escape the fighting.

Congo accuses the UNHCR inciting the influx by crossing the border into Rwanda and spreading fear among Rwandan Hutus to encourage them to return to the former Zaire. The Congo government also says Hutu militiamen had hoped to use any new camp the UNHCR set up in the Congo as a military base.

"The expulsion of UNHCR is a result of their involvement in political games," said Mwenze Kongolo, the interior minister for the Democratic Republic of the Congo. "It's not part of their job description in our country."

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The UNHCR, which had protested Congo's forced repatriation of Rwandan refugees just before orders came to leave Goma, described Kongolo's allegation as "totally unjustified."

"If a minister has any evidence the UNHCR has been involved in meddling in the internal politics of the country we want to see the evidence," the Kinshasa delegate of the agency, Bayan Dor, told Reuters.

Unclear if other refugee agencies will leave

Mwenze said the U.N. refugee agency would have to renegotiate its contracts with the government if it wanted to return to the east of the country.

Though earlier reports indicated that all refugee agencies had been ordered out of eastern Congo, Kongolo said only the U.N. refugee group was told to leave. But other aid organizations said they were still awaiting clarification on the earlier reports.

Congo also closed its border with Rwanda to prevent refugees from returning. The country was a refuge for over a million Rwandan Hutus between 1994 and 1996.

Stalled massacre investigation strains relations

Relations between the Congo and the United Nations are already poor. A U.N. team sent to investigate the massacre of Hutu refugees has been waiting for six weeks for government clearance to visit reported massacre sites.

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan has recalled leading members of the team to New York for consultations, and to give the Congo time to reconsider. But the Congo government says it does not need more time.

"I don't think it's appropriate for them to say they've given us some time," Kongolo said. "Maybe they're giving themselves some time so we can see what they've been doing. In fact, they screwed up so much that I think Kofi Annan wants to see them and talk to them personally. I believe so."

U.S. and European diplomats have warned the Congo's president, Laurent Kabila, that failure to allow the U.N. probe could mean the loss of development aid and investment. But the Congo is rich in natural resources, and Kabila may feel this is a warning he can afford to ignore.

Correspondent Catherine Bond and Reuters contributed to this report.

 
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