Kigali, Rwanda. This month of October 1998 has been tougher for the
people of
Giciye, Gatonde, Ndusu, Nyabikenke, Nyakabanda, and Satinsyi.
While Rwandan Government was involved in on-going invasion of Congo,
Rwandan Liberation Army, the rebels who have been fighting the RPF
government
troops for the last four years were reinforcing their positions in the
Northwestern and Central Rwanda.
Vunga, once a market hub between the Central and Northern parts of Rwanda has become a raging battlefront between the two opposing forces. Hundreds of thousands of displaced people from the surrounding mountains have been rounded up and housed in what looks like concentration camps. Among these displaced are the sister of the current president of Rwanda, Pasteur Bizimungu. "I have been living like an abandoned dog for 4 years now. First as a refugee in Zaire and then in concentration camps. They [Rwandan Goverment Army] told us we need to live in a camp close to soldiers because our brother is the President... I didn't see my brother for ten years. I heard he has become the President of Rwanda in Kigali."
Already, displaced people, estimated to a half a million, are dying from malnutrition, disease, or just despair. Food distribution stops only in Government controlled areas. Even that food doesn't reach the common people. The government, waging war both inside and outside Rwanda, is finding very difficult to supply its army deeply involved in Congo and to sustain a costly war of attrition waged by the Rwandan rebels.
The spokesman of Rwandan Liberation Army, Major S. says, " We have been very successful against Museveni-Kagame-Buyoya trio. From strangers, the tourists have become brothers. We hope to reach an agreement with the diplomats very soon."
These tourists, Douglas Kear from New Zealand, and Swedes Ann Charlotte Jorisson and Jens Olsson met the Rwandan Liberation Army in Jomba, Zaire on August 15, 1998 while on their visit to Virunga National Park. They have been with the rebels since then. They witnessed first hand devastation of villages and massacres of population by RPF army tanks and warplanes, with the help of Western military assistance and Museveni.
This week, negotiators working with the New Zealand diplomat intend to visit some areas under rebels held territory in Gisenyi and Ruhengeri, promising to help rebels make their case in the United Nations and in the International Community arena.
"As we said before, we have nothing to gain with the United Nations or with any spy in journalistic clothing. We need to be extremely cautious. We will listen to the latest offer, balance it and, obviously look at our own security and the security of the tourists"
The governments in Kigali, Bujumbura, and Kampala launched a military campaign to capture the tourists, live or dead, but without much success.