Thousands Flee Combat in Rwanda

Residents of northern Rwanda have fled from four days of fighting and rebels have kept up attacks on government forces despite announcing a truce, diplomats and government sources said Friday.

The government appealed for international aid to help the displaced people. It was setting up eight camps north of the capital, Kigali, to accommodate them, officials said.

Government sources said 550,000 people had fled in the north of the Central African nation, whose population is 7.5 million.

They include 350,000 who were already in refugee camps and now have been forced to move for a second time in 28 months of warfare. Many flocked to Kigali, which is suffering food shortages since rebels cut the road to Ruhengeri in the north.

The Rwanda Patriotic Front said Thursday it had halted an assault launched Monday to protest government massacres of Tutsi peasants.

But a Defense Ministry statement accused the front of shelling the police barracks at Ngarama, a small town 30 miles northeast of Kigali, and attacking two nearby army positions after the announcement was made.

French troops evacuated 69 people from Ruhengeri, including French and other foreigners.