9 Priests Among 72 Slain in New Rwanda Massacre

Another massacre. The word has come to symbolize the Rwandan conflict. This time it involves nine Roman Catholic priests and 63 others killed in the capital.

The United Nations said Thursday that it had received reliable reports of a massacre that occurred late Monday or early Tuesday in the Nyamirambo district of the city, a southwestern quarter now the scene of heavy fighting. It was not clear whether rebel or government troops carried out the slayings.

The news came just a day after Rwandan rebel radio reported that 13 other Rwandan clergymen, including the Roman Catholic archbishop of Kigali and two bishops, were killed by four rebel soldiers assigned to guard them.

“We are also very, very concerned by what happened,” said Col. Frank Mugambage, a rebel leader, referring to the incident near Kabgayi, 30 miles west of Kigali. “We are ready to admit it was done by some of our misguided soldiers.”

Mugambage said many of his men were recruited from among families affected by the recent massacres in Rwanda and because many of the mass killings have occurred in churches, some may associate the church with the killings.

He said one of the soldiers was shot and killed by other rebel guards and three others fled.

Pope John Paul II said he was “profoundly upset” by the Kabgayi massacre, and prayed that the victims find in heaven “the peace that their well-loved land denied them.” The Vatican did not comment on the deaths in Kigali.

Up to 500,000 people have died since the Rwandan civil war erupted anew April 6, following the death of President Juvenal Habyarimana, a Hutu, in a mysterious plane crash. The conflict is both political and ethnic, involving historic animosities between the majority Hutu and minority Tutsi tribes.

Most of the victims of the civil war have been civilians.

Government-trained Hutu militiamen have been responsible for most of the massacres, often supported by government soldiers.