Hundreds of Foreigners Flee as Rebels Battle Rwandan Troops

Fighting raged Saturday in Rwanda’s countryside between government troops and invading rebels, and foreigners fled the capital of the central African nation by the hundreds.

No further fighting was reported in the capital, Kigali, where French Foreign Legionnaires and Belgian paratroopers secured their nations’ embassies, parts of the city, the airport and its access highway.

But fierce clashes were reported in the northern part of the country, and 500 soldiers from neighboring Zaire arrived in Kigali to reinforce the 5,000-strong Rwandan army.

The rebels, who call themselves the Rwandese Patriotic Front, invaded last Sunday from Rwanda’s northern neighbor, Uganda, where they had been living in exile. They want to oust the government, which they accuse of corruption.

Many are deserters from the Ugandan army, and most are members of Rwanda’s Tutsi ethnic minority, which was removed from power by the majority Hutus in the late 1950s and early 1960s in fighting that left tens of thousands dead.

The State Department issued a travel advisory Saturday warning all U.S. citizens to defer travel to Rwanda until further notice. U.S. Embassy officials in Kigali advised U.S. citizens still in the country to stay indoors and said they would assist Americans wishing to leave Rwanda.

Also Saturday, an Air France Boeing 747 carried 232 French and other European nationals to Paris. Another Air France plane and a chartered Lufthansa jet were expected to pick up about 500 more later in the day.

The Soviet news agency Tass said measures were being taken to “ensure the safety and the evacuation of the families of Soviet personnel.” It gave no further details, and it was not known how many people were involved.

In Kigali, a dusk-to-dawn curfew announced Tuesday was extended round the clock and a Belgian reporter said some people confined to their homes were running short of food.

France has 670 citizens in Rwanda, Germany 400 and the United States 250. Most are attached to embassies or engaged in foreign aid projects.

The exodus of foreigners was touched off by fighting in and around the capital early Friday morning and fears that the conflict could degenerate into more serious inter-ethnic violence.