RWANDA: U.N. Remains Wary of Force in Growing Refugee Crisis

By Farhan Haq Reprint | | Print |

UNITED NATIONS, Nov 11 1994 (IPS) - The United Nations remains unwilling to send troops to ease tensions among more than one million Rwandan refugees in Zaire despite signs that war may return to Rwanda, top U.N. officials said here.

After U.N. Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali met the U.N. Security Council Friday, all sides agreed that the situation in the Rwandan refugee camps, especially in Zaire, was increasingly ominous.

In many camps, the former Hutu-majority Army of Rwanda (FAR) has maintained a powerful military force, and has even used humanitarian aid to rebuild itself into a well-equipped 30,000- strong force. Aid workers and refugees alike have been brutalised by the soldiers.

As a result, the FAR — accused of participating in genocide against Rwanda’s Tutsis, who now have a large share of power in Rwanda — may be able to re-invade their country and resume the brutal war that killed perhaps a million people this spring.

One British diplomat, who asked not to be named, described the two painful alternatives: “They can’t stop providing aid to the refugees — but the assistance they are providing is undoubtedly enabling (the Hutus) to rebuild for an invasion.”

But privately, many diplomats and U.N. staff alike worry that the peacekeeping-weary mood among the world body’s richest and most powerful members may limit the options available to ease the tensions.

One U.N. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, warned, “It’s going to be difficult (to raise troops), not just because of this mission but because of the environment regarding peacekeeping missions generally.

“Any mission that’s going to require a large number of troops would run into difficulties because of the cost factor and the difficulty of getting countries to contribute forces.”

The obstacles to building up U.N. armed forces from national units — which also delayed the dispatch of some 5,000 U.N. soldiers to Rwanda itself this summer following the killing of perhaps a million people — may block the best option for easing the tensions in the camps.