Government Troops Turn Back Uprising of Refugees in Rwanda

Rwandese troops appeared today to have halted a 4-day-old invasion by up to 10,000 refugees living in neighboring Uganda who returned in an attempt to overthrow Rwanda’s government, a Western diplomat in Rwanda said.

The Rwandese refugees had attacked several villages since Sunday, prompting U.S. Embassy officials to begin moving Americans out of the region today.

The invaders entered Rwanda on Sunday from southwestern Uganda, where an estimated 87,000 Rwandese refugees live. The refugees are members of the Tutsi ethnic group, which lost to the rival Hutu group in a power struggle in the late 1950s and early 1960s.

A Western diplomat in Rwanda’s capital of Kigali said the advance stalled today on a front from Gabiro to Gatsibo, two border towns about 70 miles northeast of the capital.

“Neither side has advanced all day,” said the diplomat, who was contacted by telephone.

The diplomat said that the government mobilized all reservists Tuesday night and that the Rwandese were “fighting for survival.”

Rwanda has an army of 5,000. The diplomat said the rebel fighting force, which includes deserters from the Ugandan army, was estimated at 1,500, but a U.S. diplomat estimated the force at between 5,000 and 10,000.

A Uganda army spokesman in Kampala, the Ugandan capital, said the invaders killed 12 Rwandese soldiers at the border Monday. The U.S. Embassy diplomat, also speaking on condition of anonymity, said the invaders had penetrated 25 miles inside Rwanda.

Few details were immediately available on the fighting in the villages.

Kigali was quiet except for additional troops guarding strategic buildings. Soldiers also manned roadblocks on highways leading into the city.

“But it is business as usual,” the embassy spokesman said. “The shops are open. The airport is open and people are working in government offices.”