November 16, 1996

Clinton Doesn't Have 'Clear View' of Situation, Zairians Say

This story is a sidebar for Current Zaire Crisis is Extension of Rwandan War

News media Contact: Linda Bloom • (212) 870-3803 • New York, N.Y.

NEW YORK (UMNS) -- As U.S. troops prepared to leave for a peacekeeping mission in eastern Zaire, two Zairians raised doubts about U.S. government's abilities to assess the crisis there properly.

"I think the Clinton administration doesn't really have a clear view of what is happening in the region," said the Rev. Ngoy D. Mulunda-Nyanga, a United Methodist with the All Africa Council of Churches.

During a Nov. 14 discussion here, both Mulunda-Nyanga and Mulegwa Zihindula, who runs a literacy project in Bukavu, Zaire, believe the Tutsi Rwandan government is using the fighting in eastern Zaire to further push Rwandan Hutu refugees from its border.

The mini-war has been conducted "for security and stability for the Tutsi regimes in both Rwanda and Burundi" Mulunda-Nyanga said.

The U.S. government can be most influential in the refugee crisis by convincing the Rwandan government to encourage its Hutu refugees to return, according to Zihindula.

Reuters News Service reported Nov. 15 that an estimated 250,000 refugees were slowly moving through Goma toward the Rwandan border a few miles away.

   Produced by United Methodist News Service, official news agency of the United Methodist Church, with offices in Nashville, New York, and Washington.