U.S. Defends Response in Rwanda Crisis

U.S. diplomatic and military officials, fending off criticism that American shipments of food and medicine to Rwandan refugees have come too little and too late, said Tuesday that the crisis is showing signs of abating.

“It’s not too late for the living,” said J. Brian Atwood, administrator of the Agency for International Development, an arm of the State Department. He noted that some of the 1.2 million Rwandans who flooded into neighboring Zaire have begun venturing home and that Rwandan government officials have indicated that they will allow human rights monitors into the country.

Appearing before a Senate Foreign Relations subcommittee, Atwood acknowledged that diplomatic officials initially underestimated what became a tidal wave of refugees fleeing the fighting in Rwanda. But he added that U.S. officials responded “as quickly as anyone could” and that the relief effort has been “beyond reproach.”

“The whole world is frustrated--the relief workers, the donor community and the displaced people,” he said. “The relief organizations that are working there are as admirable as any group of people I’ve ever seen and they’re working against impossible odds.”

Lawmakers and human rights groups have blasted the Clinton Administration for failing to respond to the crisis more quickly.

“There simply was not the sense of urgency that there should have been,” said Sen. Paul Simon (D-Ill.), whose Foreign Relations subcommittee on African affairs was the forum for Tuesday’s hearing on the relief effort.

Alison des Forges, a member of Human Rights Watch/Africa, told the panel that the U.S. response to the situation in Rwanda has been “extremely disappointing.”

U.S. officials said Tuesday that they are negotiating to ensure a safe return for refugees.

Meanwhile, officials at the Pentagon, which is calling the relief effort “Operation Support Hope,” allowed reporters to view the crisis center where military personnel monitor flight schedules and gather other information from Rwanda.

Officials said they have delivered a water filtration system to the largest refugee camp in Goma, Zaire. The filtration equipment, with the capacity to process 51,000 gallons per hour, will help ease the cholera epidemic that has swept through the camp.

Officials also said they are readying emergency medical facilities in Goma and that a flying hospital will operate out of Uganda.

The United States has committed 4,000 troops to the relief effort, but they will not participate in a peacekeeping force for the country, said Lt. Gen. John Sheehan, commander of the relief effort. U.S. military personnel in Zaire will set up way stations with food and medical equipment to help refugees returning home, Sheehan said at a Pentagon briefing.