Orphans Taken Out of Rwanda as War Rages
Dozens of orphans, some maimed in machete attacks, were evacuated from Rwanda on Wednesday, and fighting raged between army and rebel forces in the capital, U.N. officials said.
The United Nations took 44 orphans to Uganda, including 20 who were seriously wounded. Many of the children’s arms and legs were cut off in attacks on an orphanage in Muhura, about 22 miles northeast of Kigali, the Rwandan capital, officials with the U.N. World Food Program said.
The children range in age from a few weeks to 11 years, said Trevor Page, World Food Program coordinator in Kampala, Uganda. Sixteen nuns, nurses and workers at the orphanage were also evacuated.
The identity of the attackers was not known.
Relief workers estimate that the violence between Hutu and Tutsi ethnic groups has killed 100,000 people and forced 1.3 million to flee their homes.
The bloodletting began after the presidents of Rwanda and Burundi--both Hutus--were killed in a plane crash April 6.
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