Zairian Rebels Dump Refugees on Aid Workers

KISANGANI, Zaire — Rebels dumped truckloads and trainloads of sick and starving refugees on unprepared aid workers, who flew 236 children home to Rwanda on Wednesday and struggled to deal with the rest.

In the squalid camps south of this northeastern Zairian city, refugees fought for biscuits, famished after days hiding in the jungle. Many were sick with cholera and malaria. A mother at a Kisangani transit camp clung to her dead child.

“This is a chaos,” U.N. refugee agency spokesman Kilian Kleinschmidt said of the Hutu refugees’ sudden arrival. “As far as I know, we could have 10,000 people here tomorrow.”

After weeks of balking at United Nations plans for the biggest refugee airlift ever attempted in Africa, the rebels are now pressing to complete the operation in 60 days.

The first flight of 186 refugee children reached Kigali, the Rwandan capital, Wednesday afternoon, followed by a second flight of 50 children. U.N. workers hoped to fly 1,200 more refugees home today.

Aid workers were shocked when the rebels began bringing hundreds of sickly refugees to Kisangani on trucks and trains from refugee camps south of the city.

Last week, the refugees fled into the jungle when Zairian mobs attacked them, reportedly killing hundreds. Rebels sealed off the area to aid workers for nearly a week, making it impossible to bring in food or medicine. Some refugees say rebel troops fired into the camps.