Clinton May Dispatch 2,000 U.S. Troops to Rwanda : Military: Soldiers would aid returning refugees. Decision awaits report on airport’s capability, assurances that returnees would not be harmed.

The Clinton Administration is considering sending at least 2,000 U.S. troops to Rwanda to help set up a relief network for refugees returning from Zaire, but the President still has not made a final decision on the plan, senior officials said Wednesday.

The action is awaiting a U.S. assessment team’s recommendation on whether the airport in Kigali, the capital, can be upgraded to handle additional relief traffic--and the new Rwandan government’s assurances that refugees who return home will not be subject to reprisals.

President Clinton’s top foreign policy advisers met to review the issue Wednesday, but officials said they took no action. The White House said Defense Secretary William J. Perry will travel to the area this weekend to survey the scene.

Officials said the Pentagon has drafted a contingency plan to dispatch 2,000 U.S. military personnel to Rwanda--possibly as early as next week, should the President give the go-ahead. The troops would come from the U.S. European Command, based in Stuttgart, Germany.

The proposal would involve setting up a series of “way stations” from Goma, Zaire, where 1.2 million refugees are now camped, back toward Kigali to help provide food, shelter and medical care and to help guarantee refugees’ safety as they make their return march.

Perry told reporters at a news conference Wednesday that the number of U.S. troops in the immediate region, including Uganda and Zaire, already is likely to surge to about 4,000 within a week--and could swell more if Clinton decides to send troops into Rwanda.

The Administration’s new proposal also calls for expanding the current effort to combat the cholera epidemic sweeping the refugee camps around Goma. The disease has killed thousands.

Officials said the Americans would be part of a combined operation involving contingents from several U.N. countries.

The Administration was forced to acknowledge its plans before it was ready after details of the operation were disclosed at a news conference in Stuttgart on Wednesday by Gen. George A. Joulwan, commander of U.S. forces in Europe.

Officials said that a major reason for sending U.S. troops into Rwanda would be to help convince those who fled the country that they would be safe if they decided to return. The huge flow of refugees has swamped neighboring Goma.

However, the Administration has been trying to make sure that, before it attempts such an operation, it has assurances that the new rebel government will cooperate with U.S. forces and will not harm any of the returning refugees.

David Rawson, the U.S. special envoy to Rwanda, has been negotiating with the new government, but he has had only limited success.

The United States still has not recognized the government, which was formed by the rebel Tutsi-led Rwandan Patriotic Front but has a president and prime minister from the Hutu majority, which ruled Rwanda before it was overthrown earlier this month.

Clinton has come under increasing criticism for not acting sooner to stem the carnage in Rwanda. Perry on Wednesday called the situation there “a tragedy of unprecedented proportions.”

So far, Washington has limited its involvement in the Rwandan problem to humanitarian aid efforts. Policy-makers fear that taking on a wider military role could lead to a situation such as the one in Somalia, where 42 Americans died.

The United States has 750 troops in Goma, where it has been setting up water-purification equipment to help fight the cholera epidemic. The system is providing almost 100,000 gallons of water daily and is expected to produce 1 million gallons a day by the weekend.

Officials said that Washington is encouraged because the new government has agreed to allow human rights monitors to re-enter the country, but that it wants Rwandan authorities to extend a formal invitation to U.S. troops.

However, Clinton’s own advisers appear to be split on the issue. Although Perry is said to support the plan to send troops, Secretary of State Warren Christopher reportedly has been wary, for fear that such a move might embroil U.S. forces in full-fledged peacekeeping operations.

The situation in Rwanda is far from stable. Despite the apparent truce there, Pentagon officials said the armies of the two warring parties are still camped at opposite ends of the runway in Kigali and that no one is sure whether either side will back away.